The Rejects (Naruto Ending)
by TheFemaleReviewer
Summary: Masashi Kishimoto recently said Naruto would be ending soon, so I decided to direct some fanfics towards "endings" I think are possible. In this ending 'the rejected ones' are given a tough choice while they battle forcing acknowledgement from the ones they desire or forgoing it altogether. Meanwhile, see how the Infinte Tsguyomi affects its victims. For better or worse? (NaruSaku)
1. Chapter 1

**The Rejects**

Author's Note: So, here's that NaruSaku I was telling you about. No spoilers, but I just want to make sure you know that it starts off kind of... Well, it's going to seem like another pairing for a moment. Just stick through it. By the end of this first part, you should be able to see HOW it's going to become a NaruSaku story.

**Sakura**

"Hey, Ino can you bring that over here?"

"Don't you mean 'Queen Ino'?"

I rolled my eyes, holding my hand out expectantly until she grinned, swiveled around in the large easy chair Tsunade normally sat in and tossed me the last box.

I caught the box, which had to be more than sixty or seventy pounds, in one palm and easily slid it onto the cart.

"And that's all folks..." Ino said.

I nodded and leaned back against the wall as Ino continued revolving around in the chair and Hinata quietly stayed where she was, sitting on the desk. All of our eyes turned against the setting sun which cascaded an orange-ish yellow hue on the entirety of the office.

My mind washed back to my youth. Ages 14 and 15 training hard under Tsunade to be the best medical ninja I possibly could be and fortifying my Taijutsu arts.

"_If this is hard for you, you'll never reap the acknowledgement of those two you're so desperately chasing after..." Tsunade had said at one point. _

And...

"_You really think being a medical ninja is easy?! It's offensive as well as defensive. Not only are you capable of changing the tide of war with the amount of ninja we can send onto the battlefield and how effective said ninja are but you're also saving lives." _

I turned my eyes to the setting sun, allowing myself a small smile.

_But I did it, Tsunade Sensei... I've finally captured their attention and acknowledgement as a serious ninja. _

"What the hell are you smiling about over there?" Ino asked.

"How you never perfected medical Ninjutsu like I did."

"Hah!" Ino exclaimed. "Why don't you cram that shit right back up your ass Ms. Genin Parents?"

I waved her off.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever... You don't have to bite my head off just because you weren't as useful to the alliance as I was." I joked.

"I was acknowledged by Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, himself." Ino said, standing from the chair and swaying her hips.

"I was acknowledged by Madara." I retorted. "And he was like 100 times stronger than Hashirama by the time the war was over."

Hinata cocked her head back, stuck in reminiscence.

"Can you believe that was already three years ago?" Hinata asked us.

"Seems about right to me." I said, tapping my hand on the box next to me. "Since Tsunade's retiring and all."

Hinata gave me a wide smile.

"Why do you say that like it's a bad thing?" She asked. "It's not like the position won't be filled."

_Filled, huh?_

That was the exact reason why I was taking it solemnly. Because even though the filling of the Hokage position was a cheerful event to the villagers, who saw a boy who was of great importance to the alliance during the Fourth Great Ninja War finally taking a post they thought he deserved, and to Tsunade, who was beyond tired of paperwork. To the boy, or by then man, who was actually taking the position...and the one he'd secured it against... It was nothing but a fierce power-struggle.

"Isn't it obvious, Hinata?" Ino answered after watching me silently stare out of the window. "I mean, with the way they chose him yesterday... And the fact that they're both her teammates."

She shrugged.

"Imagine if Kiba and Shino both wanted to be Hokage and all the villagers picked Shino? Even though no one's ever seen what his face looks like and he's crazy mysterious with those weird bug things..."

Hinata smiled.

"Kiba did want to become Hokage." She pointed out. "He was actually pretty depressed when it became all about Naruto and Sasuke and everyone forgot about him."

Ino rolled her eyes.

"Please... He was just as trapped in that Infinite Tsukuyomi jutsu as everyone else." She replied. "At least give the position to someone who helped win that war."

"That's true." Hinata agreed.

"...Anyway, enough about the depressing stuff." She said, showing off a wide smile as she got up from the swivel chair. "We still have a good four hours of daylight until we have to meet the gang for the Hokage Inauguration Party tonight?"

"The Official Inauguration Party is tomorrow." Hinata corrected. "But our private thing is tonight."

"Oh, Hinata!" Ino said, pressing her hands on her shoulders. "You know what I meant."

_Private thing, huh...?_

My mind, which had been set on an odd "record" strain ever since the new Hokage had been decided flashed back to the moment we came up with our idea.

It was only two days before...

"We need to do something that's going to be memorable, you know?" Kiba had said as we all stood around just outside of the Hokage manor. "I mean, something we can do right now before everyone settles down and has kids and shit."

We had just finished our last mission for "clean-up and restoration" of all the arable lands that were destroyed during the 4th Great Ninja war. It was a long process, as it took us the full three years after the war had ended to fully finish, but it was also good because it kept all the villages connected. Project Kyuseishu, or Project 'Savior', piled all ninja lands funding together to save whatever land could be saved, restore the lands that couldn't be, clean-up any remaining hidden paper bombs, smoke bombs, or other projectiles that could harm unknowing civilians, and also save the minds of all the helpless people twisted and turned by the Infinite Tsukuyomi Jutsu. Many people sustained heavy psychological damage after that... Especially children.

"Kids?" Shino asked. "You're really thinking about that at this time?"

"Yeah." Choji said, between chomping down on his chips. "You don't even have a girlfriend!"

Kiba's eyes, oddly, flicked over to Hinata and he blushed slightly.

"Will you shut up? I'm working on it!"

"...In any case, wouldn't your impending death as a ninja be a better reason for urgency than growing old?" Said a slow, drawling tone.

And, like always, everyone froze, and the air hung low, and our feet shuffled slow. Naruto's eyes darted to the left... As the only person willing to make eye contact with Sasuke. It had been three years but everyone still couldn't find it within themselves to understand just what the hell he was doing there, even though he didn't mind explaining it to anyone who would listen.

I smiled.

"Always gotta go for the realistic approach, huh, Mr. Rain On Everyone's Parade?"

And then, like magic, everyone mirrored my smile. And the movement, the natural flow of things, our conversation ensued. And Sasuke, though he was standing right there, separating Naruto and I, was forgotten again.

"It has to be something special... To honor Naruto for achieving his dream." Hinata said.

Everyone grinned at that. The little boy that sucked at everything running around yelling about being Hokage was finally ready to take up that throne.

Naruto turned away from Sasuke who he had still been staring down and smiled easily and put his hands behind his head.

"Whatever you guys want is fine."

"Well, you have to pick, Naruto, it's your party." Ino pointed out.

"Hmmm..." He said, seeming to seriously put thought into it. "So... Ramen?"

We all could've fallen and collapsed right then and there from stupidity shock. Just because his Bijuu- Mode made him look brighter than the sun, didn't mean he was the brightest crayon in the box.

"Seriously, Naruto? We said SPECIAL." Tenten shouted.

"Well, I dunno! I mean..." He shrugged. "What _is_ special anyway?"

"Like something you've never done before." Hinata explained.

He scratched his head.

"I haven't done a lot of things, really..."

I smiled again, reveling in his innocence.

"One thing my parents used to do a lot was take me to the Outer Banks of the Land of the Waves with all the Tourist Towns around there when I was younger." I spoke up. "You know the one with the Fair and all the lights and stuff?"

Most of them nodded animatedly.

"Let's go take a Road Trip." I suggested.

Sai nodded.

"I've been there before to restock my art supplies. They have some nice mountains out there, great for paining."

"And the food is incredible in the town!" Choji added.

"And we could see really cool places... I've heard the night life over there is out of this world." Ino added.

"And we could get there by running nonstop!" Rock Lee exclaimed. "Bursting with the power of EXTREME YOUTH! What are we WAITING for?!"

"A time and a date." I responded, then I turned to Naruto. "So what do you say?"

"Sure!" He agreed. "I've never been on a vacation before. ...Does everyone really wanna go?"

Shino and Sai shrugged. Choji, Rock Lee, Kiba and Ino fist pumped excitedly. Tenten and Hinata nodded animatedly and Shikamaru sighed.

"...That's such a drag." He said. "Well, it can't be tomorrow. I promised Kurenai I'd watch the kid."

"Then the following day." I proposed.

And everyone seemed fine with it, so fine in fact, that they went on...switching the topic to joking on Kiba about who he was 'working on' and probing Rock Lee about how many gates he's currently able to open while I watched. Out of the corner of my eye, Sasuke turned, saying nothing and walking along the walk in the direction of his apartment.

Wordlessly, I turned, too. Not even considering leaving him alone for a second, though the look in Naruto's eyes as I ran off after him spelled 'just give him space'.

I caught up to him. Easily sliding my hand into his palm and nudged him.

"So, great food and camping out under the stars and night clubs don't sound like fun to you?" I asked him.

He stared off into the distance, unblinking. His hand was lax, as if he didn't notice my hand was in his at all.

"I actually have work to do."

"It'll be fun."

But he said nothing, casually losing himself in whatever consciousness he'd been hiding behind like a smokescreen the entirety of the three years after the war had ended. He would show up when I forced him, when I dragged him out, but he'd remain silent, or speak and say the complete wrong thing. But I couldn't leave him alone. Even though Naruto continuously, through these long three years, has backed off and away from Sasuke, content at just having him in the village with us, I couldn't bear to see him sitting in his house alone, eating alone, just always...alone. So, I...

"Yo! Hey!"

I blinked, shaking my head as Ino finished snapping her fingers in my face.

"Earth to Sakura! Come on, I've decided we'll go out for a couple drinks before we get ready for our trip."

I stood up, stretching.

"When we get to the actual banks, all we'll really be doing is drinking anyway." I pointed out, continuing to blink my eyes. "What's the point of going now?"

"Drinks work wonders for spilling gossip!" She declared.

"DID SOMEBODY SAY...DRINKS?!" A voice exclaimed.

We all turned to see Tsunade in her classic pigtails and green gamble cloak standing in the doorway.

"Even though you three should've finished packing my room up a good hour ago... I'll bless you with my presence on your little sake outing."

"But Tsunade-sama, no one asked for your-" Ino began.

"Ah! Ah! Ah! You don't have to beg me, I'd _love _to go drinking!" She shouted, walking up to us and placing her hands firmly on Hinata's shoulders. "You'd love to have me there, too, right?"

And as expected, Hinata nodded firmly. Though, she probably wasn't lying. She was the type of person to enjoy anyone's company.

We made our way out of the door and around the curving hallway. As Tsunade and Ino chatted animatedly about random things and Hinata lent a supporting comment here and there, I allowed my mind to wander again.

I took in the glowing sunset, which had left its blazing golden hue and began to settle into a tender pink... Just like another time I remembered from a long time before then.

It was only about three months after the war had ended...

"But Sasuke!" I had called. "You still haven't told me what you mean by all this!"

He didn't pause in his walking or even seem to consider it for that matter. He sighed, sliding his hands into the pockets of his brand-new navy blue Konoha Shinobi pants and continued on the path toward the front of the village.

"I _have_ told you." He replied. "It isn't my fault if you can't understand."

I grabbed his shoulder.

"Don't just leave me hanging, then. Explain it to me in a way that I will."

Finally, at the South Gate Entrance of Konoha, he slowed his walk, turning his head to me.

"You really mean to tell me you haven't noticed all the people that hound Naruto and I on a daily basis?"

I blinked hard.

_Of course I noticed... That's why I'm next to you right now. To encourage the infected villagers to leave you alone._

My eyes flicked around, even then, there were two visiting Cloud ninja villagers eyeing Sasuke heavily. All across the five ninja nations, he and Naruto had been deemed the saviors and though that comes with pride, it also comes with a price.

The issue was that the Infinite Tsukuyomi was so particular to everyone's own personal interests. One person wants to be rich, done. The other person wants to have all the lovers in the world, done. But like a drug, it took hold of that person's brain, releasing chemicals into their blood stream that are normally only released when a person is experiencing extreme happiness...a thing called peace. Some people, ones who had the most traumatic lives, needed more of the drug than others... So they took more. While some people were in the genjutsu only for a couple of days or even hours in their mind, others were in there for years...

The worst patient Tsunade, Shizune and I received recounted growing to full manhood, marrying a woman, having three children and being close to resting on his deathbed right before he woke up. The total amount of time in years his mind recorded being in the genjutsu was a full lifespan, sixty good years. But the patient... The patient was only seven years old.

Instead of coming back to the real world whole, these men, women and children, held more steadfastly to the dream... Especially if, in their memories, the dream lasted longer than their real age, such as in the seven year old's case. He barely remembered anything when he awoke. That his parents were killed right before his eyes by Akatsuki member Kisame and he fled the Mist Village in fear, living off of raccoons and acorns in the wilderness from ages four until seven. But then, one night, he lifted the leaves he had poured over top of himself for warmth, crawled out of the leaky cave he'd holed up inside, pulled the bushes to the side and saw it ... The gigantic red moon taking up most of the sky. And he raised his eyes to it, gazing at it openly and suddenly... he was home, and his parents coddled him and his big sisters kissed him and it was like reality was the true dream. Or rather...reality was a nightmare.

I sighed.

"So that's what you're getting at..." I said, finally understanding. "Sasuke... Those people... Just ignore them, they're sick."

"They're lost." Sasuke replied. "And I know what it feels like to be lost."

I slid my hand down to his hand.

"I know how you're feeling. I have to treat those people all day long and more and more keep cropping up." I told him helplessly. "But it isn't as easy as you think! You don't even know what you're up against..."

I shook my head hard, voice quavering.

"How do you explain to someone that can recall his entire life as a boy with ease... Being adored by his little sisters, being spoiled by his mother and father, and living every second of his life with a silver spoon in his mouth." I swallowed. "How do you explain to that person that the entire life they remember living as this rich prince is all a lie and they're actually a..._girl_. A poor little farmer girl from the Grass Country...? How... How can anyone explain that?! It's... It's just..."

"It makes you think."

I paused, looking up at him as his eyes layered over the masses of trees beyond the Konoha gate.

"Makes you think that... Maybe some people have to be cajoled instead of coddled."

And immediately, I was shaking my head.

"Naruto's already proposed a plan that Tsunade's following." I told him. "He wants her to continue treating everyone with the brain chemicals. It's like a drug withdrawal that they're going through. If we slowly wean them off of it, we're hoping they'll come back. And if, after the five month roll-call, some people still can't return. He's decided to just...create a safe home for these people to just go back to sleep. You were there when we planned that."

He continued staring out silently and then turned, finally looking me in the eyes.

"This was the guy that said all the dreams were lies and anyone who believed in them was a coward." He said. "And now suddenly, he's giving them a shortcut. That's the man you want to believe in?"

_This rivalry..._

"Naruto is our comrade."

"That doesn't make him smart." Sasuke interjected. "I'm the one they should've consulted..."

And then he stepped away, pulling out of my grip.

_It's like it'll never stop._

"Everything depends on the person's psyche." I went on, following him. "You can't force a person's mind to bend to your will. That's why the Infinite Tsukuyomi worked so well in the first place. Because the person creates it themselves but... If you're thinking to force this reality on them, they'll snap."

"Handing 'dream passes' out to people like candy is only going to encourage dissention at a time when we need people awake and coherent the most." He said. "You know that full and well, Sakura. Soon, everyone will start to feign 'sickness'. ...Who the hell actually wants to live in reality?"

He bit the corner of his lip tersely, something I noticed that he'd do when he was really agitated.

"Naruto cherishes reality above everything."

He didn't even hesitate before he responded.

"That's just because he doesn't know any better. People who have actually lost something before as opposed to never having anything to begin with. Those people are the ones who truly understand reality. He's just a common idiot preaching about things he doesn't understand."

I raised my eyebrows then. Surprised at his tone. Even though I'd seen Sasuke angry countless times after the war ended, it still surprised me. I put my arms around him, pulling him into my chest just as he passed the gate entrance.

He paused, probably more so because I was restraining him than because he actually wanted to.

_It's always like this... You leaving and me hugging you from behind._

"Sakura..." He said quietly.

I let go of him, nodding.

"Uh, y-yeah..."

He glanced back at me, and I saw the deep red Rinnegan in his eye flick on momentarily before he enacted whatever teleportation technique he was able to use and disappeared. In the leaves and dust kicked off by his sudden departure, I stood there and...

"Sakura, really?"

"What?" I asked, blinking.

"What's your order? This nice waiter has had to ask about fifty thousand times."

I looked up at a man with smooth light blonde hair, shaved at the sides and softly spiked on his head.

"I'm sorry!" I told him. "Uh... You know what? Just water would be fine."

Amid all the loud complaints by Tsunade and Ino, who were both having two cups of sake, the waiter handed me a glass of water.

"Oh, it's fine." He said, smiling at me widely. "If I were as pretty as you are, I'd be spacing out, too. Probably about all the marriage proposals, right, Sakura-san?"

I blinked.

"Huh?" I asked, giving him a proper once-over. "You know my name?"

He nodded hard.

"Of course! You were the first face I saw when I truly woke up from that moon genjutsu."

_Truly woke up..._

I gazed into his golden eyes, suddenly coming to a distant memory of a guy who looked similar to him.

"I never got a chance to fully thank you." He said. "So...how about dinner?"

Ino laughed.

"Sorry, lover-boy! She's got a boyfriend." She declared.

"Crap... So that Uzumaki guy actually nailed you down, huh?" He asked. "Well, it's to be expected that a girl like you would end up with a hero like him. ...See you later."

Ino snickered as she sipped from her cup.

"Who wants to break it to the poor asshole that the guy he lost out to is actually the _other _'hero'?"

"Who is less like a hero in people's eyes and more like a tolerable villain." Tsunade added.

I rolled my eyes.

"Sasuke's no villain..." I muttered, but then I cocked my head. "But Naruto... Really?"

"Well... When you guys are together, you do have a certain chemistry." Hinata said, seeming to choose her words carefully. "Many people probably think you two are..."

Hinata's tentative tone attracted my attention.

_That's right... Hinata, you have feelings for Naruto, don't you?_

She glanced at me and then looked down at the cup of tea she'd ordered.

I considered the word "chemistry" that she'd chosen, feeling like a deeper and more tender meaning was there but being unable to comprehend it.

"Right, and Sasuke on the other hand, it's rare anyone sees the two of you together." Ino pointed out. "It's like you're ashamed to take him places."

_Yeah, right... More like the other way around._

"Speaking of you two, though... How is going anyway?" Tsunade asked, reaching for her third drink. "You barely talk about him."

_But I think about him all day._

"He's fine." I replied.

_Or that's what I tell myself._

"Let me just ask the question we all really want to know, what's the sex life like?" Ino wanted to know.

Hinata blushed furiously and Tsunade tried unsuccessfully to hold down a burst of laughter.

"Ehh... Well... You know, Sasuke would probably kill me if I told, so..." I replied easily.

"Hey, no one here is going to tell!" Ino promised me. "We're your friends."

And because of that true statement, my brain spun, quickly reeling for a cause.

"Well, it's fine." I responded, looking down at my water. "I don't really know how to explain it better than that..."

"Wait a second..." Ino gasped. "Wait, wait, wait... Could it be that you guys have never...?"

I said nothing, continuing to poke my water. I would've responded, if I had just one more spare second to come up with a lie but Ino beat me to it.

"It is, isn't it?!" She exclaimed.

Tsunade looked up from her fourth glass of sake, I expected her to be laughing along with Ino but instead she gave me a pensive look. A look I was too afraid to read behind.

"I mean, we're busy. Unlike _some_ people, we don't have time to just mess around, Ino."

_Literally..._

"That's a bunch of bullshit. You're at his house for hours on end every day and that thought never once occurred to either of you?" She went on.

My heart beat sped up, unconsciously, I was tuning into the area around us. Counting the number of people total in the bar, eleven, and the number of people who could potentially overhear us, six, and the number of people who were actually looking over, called by Ino's loud tone, two. One of which, being the waiter who had asked me out.

I tapped my sweaty palms against the table.

"I mean, it's been three whole years, you should-" Ino tried to continue.

"But Ino, you and Sai are still in the beginning stages, too." Hinata interrupted.

Tsunade smiled, hopping after Hinata's change in conversation.

"That's true. Shouldn't you guys have all sorts of juicy stories?"

And suddenly, at the prospect of revealing gossip, Ino forgot all about me.

"I don't even know where to start!" She said, smiling, but she began anyway.

I had been somewhere between getting angry and arguing or feigning sickness but suddenly, there wasn't a need for any of that.

I looked over at Hinata and gave her a grateful smile and she smiled back. Understanding how to come to the defense of someone in social strains since she had been in that position for most of her childhood, being the shyest one of us all.

But Ino's words didn't fall on deaf ears at all. I used the time I was given with no one paying attention to me to day dream again. About the first time I came to Sasuke's apartment near nighttime unannounced.

It was a year after the war ended...

I turned the knob, pushing his door open and being met with the soft scent of lavender and lilac, which were caused by a pot of flowers next to the door. His apartment was a straight shot to the bedroom, past the kitchen and a bathroom, and his door was open.

"Sasuke?" I called.

Something shifted and as I entered the room, I saw that he'd closed a book on the desk next to his bed.

He turned to me slowly. And my eyes flicked over him, chest bare because his navy blue shirt was hanging on the rack and wearing nothing but black pants.

"Those flowers next to the door..." I said, setting a cloth bag on his desk. "Were they a gift?"

"I don't garden. Naruto brought them." He replied.

_Naruto? _

I felt relief spreading through me.

_That's good. I almost thought it was another woman. Though... That'd be kind of impossible. It's not like it was in the past. Girls in the village are all after Naruto now._

He eyed the bag.

"What are you doing here?"

"I thought since you keep declining to come have dinner with Naruto and I, I'd bring it to you."

"I can cook for myself."

"What's that got to do with anything?" I asked.

I pulled the cloth down off of the container and popped it open.

"It's curry chicken with a side of diced tomatoes. I made it myself." I told him. "I know how much you like it."

He stared down at it for a second and then looked up at me.

"...Thank You."

A warm feeling settled in my stomach and I blushed.

"Well...eat it first, then you can thank me."

He picked up the chopsticks and began digging in. As he did, I walked around the room. Everything was organized. Not one thing was out of place. Even his bed was made. Whenever I went to Naruto's house, I spent almost the majority of our time together cleaning his messes. I was also a pretty neat person but when it came to my bed or my shoes, I couldn't care less what it looked like or where they went. Sasuke almost seemed anal about it.

Other than that, Naruto had pictures of all of us up everywhere, some taken recently, some taken in the past, but Sasuke's walls were all bare.

"Whatever happened to your copy of our class portrait on our first day as ninja?"

He paused momentarily to swallow one of his last bites and then shook his head.

"I gave it to Naruto. His was destroyed during the blast in Pain's Invasion."

I paused near his dresser where only one thing lay on top. A headband with the leaf symbol etched in the sliver metal.

"Why don't you swap this out for one that's undamaged?" I asked.

He stood up from his desk, carrying the empty container to the trashcan just outside of his bedroom door.

"It's a symbol." He said, as I turned it over in my fingers.

"A symbol of why it's not good to fight your friends?" I asked jokingly.

But he didn't crack a smile, instead, he stopped next to me, pulling the head band out of my grasp and putting it onto a higher shelf.

"A reminder of the alternative."

He sat up on his bed, pulling himself down into a lying position.

"The alternative... Like leaving Konoha again? You'd do that?"

"No." He replied. "That's exactly why I keep the headband. As a symbol against breaking what I believe in to chase someone else's will."

It was then, while I was staring down at him lying across his bed that the thought came to me. Initially, it was innocent. I liked his response to that question. It sounded noble and sturdy and I had been convincing myself that if I was going to be attracted to Sasuke it had to be for the right reasons. Because I actually liked the person he was. So, I began to try to get to know him, in a slightly selfish way.

"That book you were reading..." I said, pointing to it. "You're still trying to find a way to help the 'sick' ones, right?"

"I already know how I'm going to help them." He said. "That's a book on political thesis's."

"...Run that by me one more time?"

He sighed, the way he always did when he had to explain something in detail.

"Do you really think the five ninja nations are just going to get along peacefully forever?"

"No, but it's better than warring, isn't it?"

"That's an idealistic way of thinking. In reality, military villages, like Konoha, are run by feudal lords. In reality, they can wage a war with another land at any point in time if they choose." He said. "And also in reality, war happens more often than peace ever did."

"So... Being Hokage is pointless." I stated, plopping down on the bed next to him.

"That's incorrect. It's still the most important job, because a Hokage has the power to influence the entire military of nation one way or another. And, in reality, less people live completely isolated from ninja and military districts than the opposite. Hokage's have a lot of power."

"So, what's your point?"

"Even though Hokage's have a lot of power, that doesn't mean they have _all_ the power. Danger is always on the horizon in a situation like that. However, if we can change that, get the Hokage's to have all the power, then, it'll only be a few paces before we can..."

"Can what?"

His eyes which had been on the ceiling, flicked over to me.

"Change the world." He replied. "By uniting all five ninja nations into one full, permanent nation with one leader."

I couldn't help but grin.

"I can't believe you!" I said, pointing at him. "And let me guess, you're going to be the leader of all those nations, right?"

"Naturally."

"You're power hungry."

"I'm being logical."

"Naruto wouldn't-"

"Naruto is naïve." He interrupted.

He frowned slightly, looking back up at the ceiling.

"And he's also too trusting. He's the type of guy to sit in a situation as long as it's comfortable and never premeditate. Someone with no intellect like him... How could they ever be Hokage?"

"It's just like you said before, Hokage's use their power by swaying the opinion of the masses of ninja. Naruto might not be the brightest, but you have to admit... He's very charismatic. He's always been able to change the opinions of people... That's what makes him special."

He said nothing, continuing to look up at the ceiling with his hands behind his head. I moved closer and leaned over him.

"Don't be upset with me." I said, pushing my fingers through his hair.

He stayed quiet, and without much else I could think of doing, I let myself down onto the bed next to him, pressing my face into his bare chest.

"Sakura-"

"Tell me something, would you?" I asked. "What will you do when your term is over and it's time for someone else to become Hokage?"

_Hopefully not pull a Madara and try to rule forever._

"Someone else can have it." He replied. "By that time, the regulations I'll want will already be in place."

"Sasuke... Why do you want to do all this?"

He was silent for a while. He'd never really gone in deeply about why he wanted to become Hokage. Everyone asked him constantly for hours on end but he would just tell them the obvious... "Because I want control."

"I need to create a better world where what happened to my brother Itachi and my clan will never happen again." He said.

Because of the honestly of that sentence, I couldn't help but want to reward him for it. Like giving a kid candy for answering a question right. So, I lifted my head to him and pressed my lips against his smooth cheek. I felt him go stiff next to me and as I stopped, he didn't waste a second pulling away from me.

Wordlessly, he stood up, grabbing the book at his desk and sitting back down. That was the first time I stayed over his apartment through the night... But just because I was in the room, didn't mean I was anywhere near him.

I raised my eyes from the ground as we all walked home in the early night dark blue. Children ran past us with fire sparklers and adults sat in the plaza or on porches, gazing at the fireflies or having a popsicle. I turned to Ino who hadn't stopped talking since she started and wondered what it meant to have a boyfriend. Was it just someone you spent most of your time with? Someone you spent a lot of time talking to? Or was it about the intimacy. The closeness. What separated a friend from a lover?

"Okay, ladies." Ino said. "I'm going home to pack, if you want to come over, you're welcome."

Hinata nodded.

"I'll do the same. Meeting at the North Entrance?"

I grinned.

"Yup. Make sure you remind the boys to start early. Knowing them..."

"Yeah, Shikamaru's going to need like five hours." Ino groaned, walking off.

"And Shino's insects take so long to get his stuff together." Hinata added, turning to her own path.

"So... What'll you do?" Tsunade asked me, as we were the only two left.

I shrugged.

"Go see if Sasuke still really doesn't want to come and then pack _for_ Naruto since I'm sure he expects me to anyway."

She rolled her eyes.

"I'm talking about Sasuke."

I stared at her, she stared back.

"You know... The worst burden a woman can ever bare is decision to let a man go."

I blinked at her rapidly, wanting to ask what she was talking about, even though I understood her full and well but she went on.

"You're missing out on other opportunities you could have if you could get your head out of the clouds."

"Who? That waiter?" I asked, shrugging. "He'll live."

"You know who I'm talking about." She said, then she reached out, placing a hand on my head, a tender action she'd begun to take up when I was younger. "Open your eyes, honey."

She gave me a knowing look. I turned away from her wordlessly, slowly making my way down the path that led to Sasuke's apartment and enjoying the warm breezes floating by.

That day when I brought him dinner, almost a full two years before, was the last time I'd ever gotten that close to Sasuke again. Every time I came over, he made sure to be in a position where I couldn't engage him easily. Most of the time we spent together was wasted with me watching him work or bringing my own work to do.

I lowered my head as I walked under the white, cloth Uchiha flag Sasuke had hanging from the bench above his apartment entrance. Funnily enough, I was the one that hung it, not him. It bothered me that his apartment was so bland and empty looking.

"Sasuke?" I called, pushing the door open.

He was in the kitchen, which was in direct line of sight from the front door and didn't even turn to look at me. I wondered if it was because he was so used to my presence or if he was bothered by something.

"Didn't have time to make dinner. Sorry." I told him, closing the door. "I got pretty caught up with the girls."

He sat at the small, round table in the center of the kitchen, tipping the edge of a bowl toward him and away from him. The warm breezes from the window floated in, ruffling the curtains and somehow feeling cold as they reached me.

"Or...maybe I could just whip something together with what you have." I said tentatively.

"I'm not hungry." He replied, still staring at the table.

"Well... What are you, then?"

He remained silent. I walked over to the stove next to him, deciding to just prepare something small anyway.

"Are you going on Naruto's Party Trip with us?" I asked him.

"Do you even have to ask?"

I grabbed one of his frying pans.

"Naruto would like it if you came."

"I couldn't care less about what Naruto would like."

"You're being selfish."

He dropped the bowl, allowing it to clatter on the table without shattering.

"I'm being the most selfless one out of us all." He argued. "Naruto's not the only person that saved the world. None of us would even be here if it wasn't for me."

I sighed as I put the pan over the fire.

"I know that."

"And now I'm trying to create a long-term plan that could help not just my clan or this village, but everyone in the entirety of the five ninja nations..." He muttered. "Instead of me, they want the idiot with no plan."

"We've gone over this a thousand times-"

"I know. He's charismatic. He's always been loyal to the village. He's trustworthy."

I grinned.

"Right. And you're just the cold, callous bastard that has a chronic backstabbing issue."

"That was in the past."

"Well, you know how people are with the 'past'. You can say and do all kinds of things that people forget. But oddly, people never really forget how you made them _feel_." I explained to him. "Even after they've forgotten what the whole issue was about, they'll still hate you on principle. Unless you do something that makes you seem sincerely apologetic."

I cocked my head as I opened his refrigerator and pulled more ingredients out.

"Didn't you say your partners in crime were having a similar issue? Karin and the rest of them..."

He remained silent, making it perfectly clear he hadn't listened to a word I'd said.

"You and Naruto are a perfect pair, you know." I spoke up. "There's a reason why he can corral the crowd and you can prepare the plan. It's because you're two pieces of a perfect whole."

I poured the oil into the pan, along with the bag of chilled, diced tomatoes.

"It would be one thing if that was what Tsunade said when she picked Naruto."

"What did she say?"

"That my character was faulty. And that people who want power are always the worst people to obtain it." He scoffed. "And somehow Naruto is more qualified for the job because the reason he wants it has nothing to do with power."

He frowned.

"I spend hours trying to explain to people the complexities of the situation. Why seeking power isn't a bad thing unless your intent is off. Power is the building block of change."

"The issue is your ideology is different." I replied, draining the fried tomatoes I'd made for his snack and placing them in the bowl he was still prodding. "Naruto believes that love causes change."

"Has that _ever_ been true historically?

"I've read all the history books you're referring to." I smiled. "Actually, I read them eons ago. When I was eleven or twelve years old. I know what the world is like historically. But isn't that what change _is_? Making it so that history doesn't matter."

And oddly, he smirked.

"You're just like everyone else." He said, grabbing a tomato slice. "Idealism is like poison. And you can't change human nature just because you cry for someone or say a bunch of stupid words."

"It seems to have worked for Naruto so far."

"Whatever..."

Privately, it irked me that he said I was like everyone else. I leaned against the counter, reaching over, playing with the strands of his hair that fell so delicately over his ears. He grabbed another slice.

"These taste just like my mother's..." He said quietly.

I lowered my hand to his cheek.

"Sasuke... Did you notice anything different about me?"

"No."

"You're not even looking."

"I looked at you earlier." He replied, pulling his face away from me.

"I'm growing my hair out."

He said nothing, continuing to eat. The same guy who swore up and down he wasn't hungry.

"Do you even care?"

"What does your hair have to do with me?"

I sighed, bending down to his level and turning his chin toward me.

"Okay... What's my favorite color?"

"That doesn't have anything to do with me either." He replied, staring at me blankly.

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't know it. I know _your_ favorite colors."

"I don't even have favorite colors."

"Exactly! And I know that!"

"Why are you angry all of a sudden?"

"I'm not. It's just..." I straightened up, pulling his head toward me and hugging him. "...I want an honest answer. What_ am_ I to you?"

I hugged him tighter.

"A stranger... A sister... A friend... Or...?"

He was silent for a while. It was like the longest silence of my life. I pulled back, moving my head into his line of sight.

"Sasuke... Would you call me your girlfriend?"

"Isn't that what you tell people you are to me anyway?"

_Not necessarily... Ino just knows how often I stay here and she talks a lot. Other people don't bother to ask and assume things. No one really knows the inner workings of our relationship. That behind his closed apartment door, if I don't speak to him, the silence will cave in on us and suffocate me like an avalanche of darkness._

But instead of saying any of that, I tilted his chin up again and quickly, before he could avoid it, I leaned down pressing my lips to his gently.

He jerked back, pressing down into the chair.

"Sakura, you're...too close."

I put my knee up on the seat next to him and stroked his cheek.

"Not as close as most girlfriends are." I replied, jokingly.

I went for his lips, kissing him again and I could feel his jaw hardening, his hands grabbing at the arm rests, and the rest of his entire body going completely rigid.

I pulled back, focusing on his pants, where a button kept his pants together.

"I don't have time to-"

"Just relax."

"Sakura..."

My left hand, which had been on his knee, slid up to the button as his hands lifted, anxiously pushing against me.

"I can't..."

I unbuttoned his pants.

"I can't do this..."

I pulled his zipper down.

"GET OFF ME!"

It happened so quickly, if someone asked me, I'd be telling the truth if I said one minute I was looking down at him and the next minute I was looking up.

But as the feeling settled in my body, my hand shot up to my cheek, gingerly touching the place where he'd hit me with the back of his hand.

He stood up, staring down at me irritably and cracked his knuckles.

"What the hell is wrong with you today?"

Another feeling that began to settle was warm and slow to come into my consciousness but the moment it did, I knew what it was. Tears... Suddenly sliding profusely down my cheeks.

And the moment he saw them, he immediately turned his eyes to the right.

"...What is it?" I asked quietly.

His fingers curled into his palms.

"Sasuke... What am I doing wrong?"

But he still wouldn't look at me.

"Why can't you..." I trailed off, losing my words in the abyss of darkness I felt surrounding us.

And suddenly, far earlier than either of us were ready for, the front door swung open.

"Sakura!" That carefree voice I'd know anywhere called. "I thought you were packing my stuff. Where are you?"

He walked into the room, grinning widely with his hands on his head.

"Well, I did it all myself now, so-"

He cut himself off abruptly. Perhaps it was the fact that I was still crying, or maybe the fact that Sasuke was in the process of zipping his pants up. But he was put on complete guard.

"What's going on?" He asked, eyes flicking between us.

I rubbed my eyes on the back of my shirt sleeve and got to my feet.

"I was just about to come over there, Naruto." I said. "Sorry."

I walked around him, heading toward the door.

"What about my trip? You're still coming right?"

With everything that had happened, I'd almost completely forgotten about that.

_But... I was planning to stay with Sasuke so that he wouldn't be alone again. _

I turned slightly, eyes locking on Sasuke who had looked up at me and abruptly averted his eyes again and then on Naruto whose eyes were wide and hopeful.

I nodded.

"Y-Yeah... Let me get myself ready. I'll meet you at the village gates."

And then I slammed the door shut and broke into a run, a run that was only accompanied by a chilly breeze, a chipper moon and chastising tears that only ended once I reached home and had to put on a face for my parents.

"Sakura, is that you?" My dusty pink haired father asked me on my way to my bedroom.

"Yeah, Dad."

"Coming back from Sasuke's, eh?" He assumed. "How's he doing?"

"He's...doing great. Just great."

"Glad to hear it."

_Fine. Fine. We're all doing so fine... Fine, if it weren't for the fact that every opportunity he gets...he rejects me..._


	2. Chapter 2

**Naruto**

"What the hell happened?"

Sasuke was ignoring me. Something he'd gotten better and better at by the minute. He walked into his bedroom, sitting down at his desk.

"I'm sick of playing silent treatment with you, Sasuke."

"Why are you interested in my personal life anyway?"

"Because Sakura's apart of _both_ of our personal lives. Why was she crying?"

"I don't know what the hell is up with her today..." He muttered. "Isn't that something you should know?"

"At this point, you see her more than I do. If something's wrong, _you_ should know!"

"'Tch." He grumbled.

I crossed my arms, deciding to just wait him out with silence. Surprisingly, it didn't take as long as I expected.

"I don't like to be touched. And she knows that." He looked at me. "As for her personal feelings, I'll never understand..."

_Are you sure it's not just that you don't want to understand? _

I plopped down on his bed, zipping my chunin vest down slightly to loosen the neck of it.

"So when Sakura touches you, it doesn't make you feel... Anything?"

"I don't want to talk about this." He stated.

"What do you _ever_ want to talk about?"

"Why are you still here if you were looking for Sakura?"

"Why aren't _you_ packing up to come with me and the guys?"

"I _know_ you aren't that stupid." He retorted.

_So, he's serious about staying here alone..._

"I want you there, Sasuke."

He said nothing, going back to ignoring me so easily that it immediately tossed me into anger.

_This is the only thing I can't get about you... Why do you purposely isolate yourself? Sakura loves you. Kakashi loves you. _I_ love you but you just won't..._

Kakashi had stopped coming by to see Sasuke only a couple of months after the war ended. And I only came by every week, or month... Sakura was the one only one who came consistently.

_And now he's even pushed her away._

I stood up.

"Sasuke..." I said. "You really need to think about what's most important to you in life."

"I know what that is already." Sasuke replied. "Just because it isn't the same as what's most important to _you_, doesn't mean it's wrong."

"I didn't say it's wrong. But you don't have to live in the shadows."

"I wasn't planning to live in the shadows. I'm just forced to now that you ruined my entire plan."

"Your Kyoseishu plan did fine!" I reminded him.

"You know just as well as I do that plan was mostly Shikamaru and Kakashi."

_Well, you named it... That should count for something._

He turned back towards his desk, moving some of the books there into his specific order.

"You know what plan I'm talking about." He muttered.

"Sakura told me about your other plan... The one to heal all of the sick." I shook my head. "But Sasuke, you can't force things on people. People have to have a choice."

"You've seen what happens when humans make decisions."

"Yeah! They don't become mindless puppets."

"Who the hell do you think you're lecturing?" He yelled.

"The idiot who thinks he can turn every ninja in the world into freaking cattle!"

"At least I _have_ a plan. Instead of walking around pretending to be some kind of hero instead of a leader." He finally turned his eyes to me. "How long do you think you're going to last anyway? Until people realize your head is as empty as your promises."

"Shut your damn mouth." I growled. "You're pissing me off."

"Because I'm telling the truth? Why don't you just admit it?" He asked, lips stretching into a sneer. "...You _know_ you can't do this."

We stared each other off. Hands balled into fists just off of custom and eyes glaring.

_We haven't relaxed around each other one time in the past three years... Why...? _

I sighed, turning away from him.

"Aren't friends supposed to tell friends that they_ can_ do something?"

"Friends don't lie to each other."

With my back facing him, I looked on. Around at the room, walls bare, floor bare, everything neat and in perfect order except for one thing. Something that always stuck out in his room like it didn't belong. A pot of lilacs and violets near his door. Flowers I'd given to him... Just so he'd have something. Anything.

"You're right. Friends shouldn't lie to each other... So... I'll tell you the truth."

I brushed my hand through my hair.

"I don't know much. I'm not a book worm like Sakura or a strategist like Kakashi and Shikamaru or even an intellectual like you." I said, shrugging. "All I really have are words. That's all I've ever had. And you're right, words alone won't mean anything. This world could easily fall back into chaos under my control alone."

I heard him shifting, most likely turning to look at me again.

"If you really think that, then pass me the Hokage chair."

"I said I wouldn't lie to you." I replied steadily. "If you take the chair alone...you'll also bring the world into chaos."

I felt his eyes burning into my back, right into the Uzumaki symbol in the center.

"If we're separated, the wars will never stop. Can't you get that?"

I paused, taking in his silence, hoping it was a good omen and began to walk toward the door.

"You're my best friend, Sasuke. You and I both know that I'll always do anything for you. Right now... The ball's in your court. _You _decide the fate of the world."

I grabbed the door knob, turning it, and leaving him alone, hopefully, with my last words hanging in the air, surrounding him for a while, and then, slowly, sinking in...

**Sakura**

It didn't take as long as Ino and I expected for everyone to crowd around the village gates. We set off pretty quickly with Rock Lee running around to everyone offering to carry everyone's bags for them just to prove that he could do it, Choji bringing enough travel food for everyone three times over, and Naruto joking around as usual.

"Seriously, this atmosphere is perfect for a horror story." He said, turning to walk backwards. "We should tell scary stories."

"The real horror story is the fact that you haven't stopped wearing those pants since you were like eight years old." Tenten pointed out.

"I know, right? Aren't Hokage's supposed to be cool?" Kiba added.

"Woof!" Akamaru agreed.

"Whaaat?!" He exclaimed. "These are cool!"

"Since when have day-glo orange track pants ever been cool?" Ino probed.

But we did tell a couple of scary stories, ranging from some crackpot tale Naruto and I had heard when we were younger about Ninja Wolves to a Nara legend Shikamaru told about shadows that moved on their own.

"If shadows can be controlled by people, who's to say they can't be controlled by something else?" Shikamaru said shrugging.

"Some_thing_?" Hinata repeated, almost slipping on the branch she was hopping off of.

"It's just an old legend. Similar to the one about the Colossal Fly Swatter, my father's brother used to-"

"Okaaaay, Shino." Naruto said cutting him off. "I just decided I'm sick of scary stories."

"More like you're sick of Shino Stories." Kiba joked.

"One day, you'll all appreciate my presence..."

"You got one, Sakura?" Naruto asked completely disregarding Shino's mutterings. "To end it off?"

I looked up, realizing I had been running along with everyone the entire time staring into hammer space.

_A horror story...?_

But under the pressure of all of their eyes, I opened my mouth and began speaking before I even knew what I was going to say.

"Once there was a prideful blue Lion. He was the king of all the lands and forests within an entire 500 mile radius of his camp. He crushed anyone who opposed him and disregarded anyone who doubted him." I told them.

Our feet hit the dirt, having no choice but to run on land as we got to an outstretch of space that bore no trees. The grassland was flat and ran on for so long, it seemed like the navy night sky was touching the earth.

"But one day, a beautiful Lioness came across his lands. She had heard stories about his bravery and leadership and wanted to rule with him together. But all the years of solitary ruling had him cold and brittle... So, he was paranoid. And after keeping the Lioness around for only a few days, he pounced on her at night and snapped her neck. Then, he dragged her body out to the frontlines of his kingdom and staked her head as a warning for everyone else."

Their eyes gazed at me. Naruto's the most closely. I wondered if he wanted to cut me off like he did with Shino, but something in all of their eyes showed true interest.

"Sooner or later, the pride of Lions that the Lioness came from, tracked the Lion down and confronted him. He tried to fight but there were too many so he was forced to run away from his land. Ashamed and depressed, the Lion jumped off of a cliff and committed suicide as his lands got raided and shredded to pieces by the vengeful pride."

The silence that rang out when I was finished hung heavily, until Rock Lee decided to be the one to test the bait.

"That was sad." He said. "_Really_ sad. And somehow, that makes it kind of frightening."

Everyone nodded.

"Yeah..." Was the general consensus.

I sighed, already regretting having not just said "I don't have a story".

_If I got any better at destroying the group atmosphere, they'd have to rename me Sasuke..._

I opened my mouth again, attempting to ward them off with an easy joke but Naruto beat me to it.

"That was _so _weak, Sakura!" He declared. "I'm talking about ghosts and evil monkeys and curses and stuff. Not an asshole Lion that didn't like anybody."

And, just like that, everyone burst into laughter. And then he glanced at me, winking cheerfully and even I had to crack a smile.

_Thanks... Naruto._

Everyone continued in the tinkling laughter like a chorus as we made our way running and jogging around the dark green tall trees, ducking under the bushy undergrowth outlining the outmost edge of the Konoha boundaries and coming upon the cliff that viewed a sizeable town with curving, calm waters outlining the south side of it.

"That's it." Shikamaru said. "The Outer Banks."

Our eyes widened at all of the lights, very similar to Konoha but in a different way, these lights were accompanied by all sorts of sounds and smells and movements that I vaguely recalled from my childhood. Looking on to Naruto, I could tell it was all completely new to him. And a grin replaced the wondrous expression on his face, a grin I hadn't seen since we were really young, packed to the brim with mischievousness.

"Let's rock." He said, paving the way by jumping straight off of the cliff.

And whooping and hollering, everyone else mimicked him perfectly.

I sighed, taking my time down the cliff.

_And if they all snap both of their ankles in half, who will be stuck with healing everyone? _

The moment we got into the city, everyone headed straight for the biggest attraction, the night club, or as Ino called it "The night you won't remember".

Contrary to what Ino had always told me night clubs were like, lights were on everywhere and not everyone was huddled up dancing. Most people were crowded around the sake bar. In the center of the tables that were littered around stretched out really large umbrellas that came together to make up the ceiling of the place. Everyone's feet went back and forth clicking over the brown mahogany floor that made up the dancing area and padding over the soft green grass on the outskirts of the club that made up the sitting and eating areas.

I wandered around keeping an eye on everyone and Ino followed closely behind me, going on about a checklist of forbidden activities she wanted to get over and done with.

Akamaru barked, slightly upset at having been tied to a post just outside the club.

Choji bolted straight for the food bar the moment we got over there. Naruto was dancing with Hinata, Kiba, Tenten and Rock Lee to a song that was way too fast for any of them, not that they cared. The rest of us split up, making their way along the sake bar, or onto the dance floor, or away from the night club altogether and over to a magazine booth or a souvenir shop.

"Looks like the party boy is having fun." I commented, watching Naruto move.

"Unlike you." Ino retorted.

I smiled widely, so wide in fact, that I had to close my eyes.

"What are you talking about Ino? I'm having a great time."

She stared at me dully.

"Whatever, Sakura... Give me that fake smile all you want."

But before I could protect my fakeness, she pointed over the fence and directly down behind the hill the club was stationed on.

"Check that out." She whispered.

We both leaned over the fence looking down into the alleyway next to the nightclub where two people stood underneath a dark green lamppost.

"I didn't bring anything for Naruto."

"Oh, that's fine. I'm sure he'll just be glad you thought to come."

"Well, I wouldn't even have known about it if it wasn't for you."

"Yeah, well, I figured Gaara, being his best friend and all, would like to hang out with us and get away from all the work for once. It's probably a real drag being Kazekage..."

"Drag, huh? I haven't heard you say that in a long time."

Then Shikamaru shrugged, leaning up against the stone brothel house across from us.

"Well, I haven't really seen you in a while, so that could be it. But also..." He looked over at her. "There isn't really that much to complain about when you're around."

Temari smiled.

"What a compliment." She said.

And in a perfect, born-for-each-other sync, they leaned in, not wasting a spare second to kiss each other. Shikamaru's arms went around her, cradling her to his chest in a way that was so shockingly divergent from anything he'd ever did. Almost like he cared about something for once.

Ino bounced up and down, trying unsuccessfully to hold back a squeal.

"I knew it!" She exclaimed. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it!"

I cautiously looked down to make sure they weren't startled, they weren't, and then addressed her.

"How the hell could _anyone_ have guessed that?"

"Shikamaru's been hiding something." She explained. "And this is Shika we're talking about, he doesn't care enough about anything to hide it. Unless, it's a woman."

"Well, that'll be good for future relations with the Sand Village. First off, the Kage's are best friends and now the strategic operations ninja are dating." I explained. "Think it's a good omen?"

"Should be, unless Temari somehow reminds Shika of his Mom." She joked.

"Hi, Ino..."

We turned to see Sai approaching carrying a single rose flower.

"I read a while ago that bringing flowers to girls creates romance. Am I doing well?"

I stared at him blandly, completely lost as to what the hell Ino sees in him, but she grinned, jumping into his arms.

"You're doing amazing! But you know... Another thing that creates romance is asking a girl to dance."

He grabbed her hand, motioning toward the dance floor.

"Do you want to?"

Ino nodded hard, then turned to me, giving me a indecipherable look.

"You know, it's his own fault if he decided not to come with you." She said to me. "I wouldn't blame you if you went and had some fun."

_Clearly she means Sasuke... But what the heck does she mean by 'having some fun'?_

She winked and went on after Sai. I looked around the club, raising my eyebrows as I saw Gaara, standing in one of his more casual outfits, handing something to Naruto. Naruto looked at it, turned it over in his fingers and nodded slowly. The way his lips curved into a smile and he scratched his hair seemed like he said thank you. But something was off.

_Why does it look like he doesn't want the gift?_

He slid his hands into his pockets pointing behind him to the exit, where Akamaru continued to try unsuccessfully to bite his leash off, and seemed to give some quick excuse for leaving.

_He usually loves the things Gaara gives him..._

Gaara seemed to be looking at him suspiciously too but then two racks of ribs flew into his field of vision, hovering there in front of his face and dripping with barbeque sauce.

Gaara looked at it dully, turning his head to Kankuro and Choji who were literally rolling around on the floor laughing at their little 'pork-face' game created by Choji tossing food and Kankuro manipulating it like with his puppets.

I looked to the right again, surprised to see that Naruto had disappeared.

_Where'd he run off to?_

I turned back to the fence raising my eyebrows at the bright orange spark flicking down the alley way past Shikamaru and Temari and startling the living day-light out of their intimate moment. I pulled myself up and over the fence, allowing myself to drop into the alley way between them, starling them some more.

"Sorry..." I muttered, not making eye contact as I rushed after the orange flame.

I dashed around the corner, spinning out into the town streets where crowds of people went this way and that. I couldn't even completely understand why I was going after him.

_Perhaps it's because I know _I'm_ not having a good time. And if he's not happy either, then..._

I continued my chase, stumbling a few times and almost tripping over loose blocks in the sidewalk.

_...Then what? _

The path that I sensed his chakra heading toward led me up a rocky overhang that viewed the crashing waves coast. I continued plowing through the trees until I made it to the very edge and looked down and saw...

_There he is. But is that...Hinata next to him?_

A slim dark haired girl in a form-fitting sleeveless lavender top and white shorts stood over Naruto talking to him.

_She must've been chasing him this entire time, too._

And then an odd feeling came into me... A feeling I couldn't quite place until I watched her back away from him, nodding hard and lowering her head, and then turn, coming back up the bank toward me. As I watched her do that, the feeling immediately changed to relief. And that gave me a clue to what the other feeling must've been.

_No way... I couldn't have been feeling..._

"Sakura?"

I had been so immersed in my thoughts, I hadn't even realized she'd gotten that close to me. She stepped over some large stones and ducked her head under the leaves and raised her eyebrows.

"You followed him here, too, then?"

She bowed her head, glancing behind her and then shrugged.

"He...needs someone right now."

_...Why are you telling me that?_

"Aren't you someone who can-" I began.

"There are things about Naruto that I can't understand." She interrupted me.

She looked up then, looking me fully in the eyes.

"His connection with Sasuke is one of those things. And so, my words can't reach him... But you understand Sasuke just as well as he does..."

She ran a hand through her hair, smiling at me in a helpless way.

"He needs you."

And not a second passed before I felt the guilt crashing down on me.

_That feeling before... It was jealousy, wasn't it? I was feeling territorial towards Naruto. And now, she's... She's actually..._

I knew what her words meant by how she put them. She was giving me what she had previously taken to be her duty.

"Hinata... Thank You."

She nodded, then turned back into the trees, slowing moving up the sloping bank.

I turned the opposite direction, looking back down toward the bank where Naruto sat alone, tossing stones at the large patch of grass right before the sandy bank that he sat in. I moved, legs jumping into action pushing out one after the other. The wind blew, carrying the cool salty breeze of the waves toward my face, blowing my hair back off my neck and exposing my stomach slightly as my feet pounded into the dark green earth. I slowed to a walk as I got closer but it didn't matter, he knew it was me without even turning to look.

"I yelled at her..." He said, playing with a stone. "I didn't mean to, it's just... She's always telling me to just ignore Sasuke."

His lips pursed together.

"She doesn't get it. Sasuke is... He's _me_."

I lowered myself onto the wooden log he was sitting on.

"He's who I would be if I hadn't met..._him_."

I nodded.

"...I know." I told him.

Naruto turned, looking at me fully.

"Your cheek didn't bruise up like it looked like it would." He pointed out.

Oddly, I smiled.

"How lucky..."

"He shouldn't have done that, you know." He grumbled. "These days he really has no control over himself at all."

I shook my head.

"It wasn't his fault. I was...pushing him."

"Pushing him?"

I rubbed my hands together between my legs.

"It was really stupid but... I kind of started comparing him to other boyfriends and relationships." I shook my head. "But I should've known not to do that. Sasuke isn't like everyone else. I knew that when I decided to..."

I sighed, looking down at what was in his hands, other than stones, and reached for it.

"Gaara's present?" I asked.

He looked down at it and turned away curtly.

"Yeah... He gave it to me for becoming Hokage."

I held the necklace in my hand with a black tweed chain and a crystal light blue gem piece that matched the necklace that he'd previously had before it was destroyed in the Pain fight. It matched his eyes perfectly.

"How the hell did he replicate this?" I asked, raising my eyebrows in awe.

"With like countries worth of money, I bet. I think they said that thing was worth like three mountains of diamonds or something when Hashirama had it."

"So...what's wrong with it?" I asked, lifting my hands to his neck.

"I don't deserve it." He muttered. "Even though Sasuke's in the village, I..."

He looked down, pausing, as I clasped the necklace for him and let it hang down onto his chest.

"I was a real idiot when I was younger. I thought just bringing him here would solve everything but now it's just creating more problems." He explained. "He's still...isolated. And distant. Even though I brought him back... He's still not really home. I can feel it. And... Worst than all of that... I need him with me, Sakura."

He nodded hard, lifting his eyes to mine.

"I... I can't do this without him." He looked down at the gem piece. "Hinata kept saying I could do it alone and that I'd be fine but she doesn't get it. I can't stop worrying about him... When I was alone and two seconds away from becoming history's worst nightmare, he was there for me. Even if he didn't know he was doing it, he was the first friend I ever had... And... I have to do the same thing for him."

He gripped the gem piece hard.

"But he still won't acknowledge me..." He gritted his teeth. "We're twenty years old now and he still just won't..."

"I want his acknowledgement, too." I replied. "I just want him to look at me, talk to me, hold me, hug me...tell me he loves me..."

My fingertips began shaking.

_What is it about me? Why can't Sasuke love me? What's wrong with me? _

"But... Maybe I'm asking for too much. I mean... It isn't really that different, is it? Sasuke... He's never really been emotionally invested in that way. He's never really spoken his feelings. Never really physically shown them. So... Why the hell did we think that when he came back, it'd be any different?"

"Yeah... In the past, you could tell how he felt on the inside by his actions. It was obvious he cared. But I don't really know if he even has that same inside anymore." He smiled sadly. "We're such a pair... Rejected by the person we love the most. How desperate is that?"

"Desperate...?" I shook my head, lifting my eyes to his. "No... I..."

_Every second, every minute that I'm not around him I'm worrying about him, thinking about him, it's like my life force is being sucked away, I can't enjoy any day and when I'm with him, it's like he doesn't want me there anyway... I can't stand it. But I can't stand away from it. Because I feel like I can't stand without him. _

"I'm just..." My voice cracked, with the rush of warmth threatening my eyes.

_Everyone else is so happy in their lives. In their relationships. And the person I want acknowledgement from the most... I can't even get him to _smile_ at me. _

"I just feel so...lonely."

_I'm getting it now... A bitter taste of the reality that was Naruto and Sasuke's childhoods. What if feels like to be surrounded by all kinds of people and truly alone in your own nightmare._

Naruto raised his hand to the back of my neck, cupping it softly as the waves crashed against the sandy beach and letting his fingers drift to my cheek.

_I just want my nightmare to end..._

He brushed away my tears.

"Sakura-chan..." He whispered as he put his arms around me, pulling me into a hug.

I felt my heart-beat speeding up and I didn't know why.

_This is just Naruto, isn't it...? Just..._

But those thoughts couldn't overpower the new ones cropping up.

_It's only him at this point... He's the only one who understands me. The only one who cares enough. Naruto is...all I have._

He held me in that hug with his body, that had at some point grown firm and muscular, and I couldn't stop what happened next. He didn't seem to be able to stop it either as he pulled back, face inches from mine and met my lips calmly.

And the moment that happened, it was like I could understand all of the 'sick' ones in one explosive blow.

_If this peace was a dream... Why would I ever want to wake up from it? _

And so I didn't stop it. His hands went over me softly and cautiously like he was hunting a deer he didn't want to startle. On the soft grass near the water, he pushed me down in such a way that felt more like a gentle lying than anything forceful.

His hands explored my body as I grabbed his hair, keeping him pressed against me, losing myself in the feeling of my tongue begging entry into his mouth. Which he allowed, similar to the way I allowed his hands entry into my shirt and he didn't waste a moment pulling it off of me.

Now with new things to explore, his hands paused on my chest and like an immediate direct relationship, I could feel his excitement pressing out through his pants and onto me.

I expected him to immediately try to get my pants down at that point but I was surprised when he pulled his lips away from mine, blushing slightly on his ears from excitement and beginning to scratch his hair.

"Are you okay with...?"

_This guy... He's actually asking for permission?_

"Because if you're not, I'm totally cool with-"

I grabbed his head again, pulling him down, kissing him fully when he was there and lifted my lips to his ears.

"Just do it."

All hesitation was out of the window with that simple phrase. I zipped his jacket down and got the shirt he was wearing underneath off and over his head and then he pressed his lips against my neck, kissing there so softly I could barely keep my head clear.

He surprised me again. Instead of going straight to pulling my pants down once I gave him the okay, he worked on me, letting his kisses move down toward my chest and pausing on my nipples. While I was sufficiently distracted by that feeling, his left hand moved, finding the waistband of my shorts and pulling them down. I lifted my own hands, unbuttoning his pants, zipping them down and helping him get them off. Our underwear was next, though he didn't rush that either, somewhere between the kisses he delivered to my stomach and navel, they came off too. And then he hugged me like I was as fragile as glass and whispered my name and said something, something I wouldn't allow my brain to process just then and he pushed in.

Hesitant at first, gauging the tightness, the hardening, and then more quickly as he got the hang of it.

"W-Wow... This is..." He gasped.

_Better than your wildest dreams?_

He squeezed his eyes shut, picking up more of a pace, enough pace that I was reaching his level of excitement.

The strangest thing of all had to be how naturally it came. My grip on him with my arms curled around his neck, his lips still finding time to meet my ear or neck or cheek, his hands grabbing at the dirt and our bodies rocking together in a synchronized rhythm as we reached the end.

_This is the way it's supposed to be...isn't it?_

I'd always wondered when I was with Sasuke if we were normal... If he loved me... If I'd be happier somewhere else... If I would grow to be seventy eight one day and feel like I wasted my life... But with Naruto...

_All of those questions are answered...and even questions I've never even thought to ask. _

Naruto gasped, shuddering. I bit my lip, arching my back.

"Ahhh, Sakura..." He moaned.

I moaned along with him, burying myself in his chest as he let himself down onto me.

"I won't let you be lonely anymore..." He said between gasps. "I promise I won't..."

"Y-Yeah?"

He nodded, pressing his face into my neck.

"Even if I have to stay with you forever."

I let my eyes settle on the stars above, using his heavy, but slowly calming, breathing as my background music.

"I'll hold you to that promise..."

I didn't realize that I'd fallen asleep until my ears picked up the dizzying sound of chirping morning birds. In the brisk cool morning air, it became clear to me that I was warmer and much more comfortable than I should've been.

_Did I really sleep outside?_

I sat up fully, blinking slowly as I looked around. I saw the waves of water coming onto the sandy beach before I heard it, then I smelled it.

_Salty._

And overtop and around me were piles of warm, soft blankets and other such bedding.

_Yeah... I really did sleep on the beach._

It wasn't until I moved my hand back, touching a warm, soft body, the same body in fact that my face had woken up upon, that everything came back to me.

_Naruto? Oh... Naruto. Oh shit..._

He shifted, aroused by my movement and blinked up at me.

"Hey..." He said, smiling.

_This is bad... Did I... Did I really just use him?_

He raised his arms, pulling me down into his chest where, too shocked to do much else, I curled into him replacing my head on his chest.

"Sleep well?"

"Naruto..." I said tentatively.

_I couldn't have really done this. I'm... I'm with Sasuke. And on top of all that, Naruto's just... He's like my kid brother, isn't he? What the hell was I thinking? How could I have..._

"Sakura, there's something I wanted to ask you yesterday."

I raised my eyebrows, surprised.

"Uh... Okay."

"Why did you follow me here?"

And then the rest of the night came back... Wandering around watching everyone, but in particular the couples of our group, the people who had found someone, how they acted with each other, and being unable to stop wondering over and over again if that was what love was supposed to look like.

I immersed myself in the feelings I felt the night before and suddenly all the indecisiveness and guilt of the moment before was gone.

"Because I could tell you felt alone... And I did, too, so I guess I was thinking that we could be lonely together."

I could feel him smiling, my eyes locked on the blue crystal shinning on his chest.

"I guess we checked that off the list!" He said, laughing.

And then, strangely, I wanted to ask him questions of my own.

"Naruto... What's my favorite color?"

"Huh?" He asked.

"My favorite color. Do you know it?"

He was silent for a moment.

_He's taking a long time. Maybe things about people like their favorites aren't things people in relationships should know. Maybe that's just all... Nonsense. _

"Isn't that obvious, though?" He spoke up.

I lifted my head, raising it so that I was looking him in the eyes.

"It's pink." He said, then he raised his hand and ran it through my hair. "You love pink."

Then he grinned.

"Do you know mine?"

"Even people from other villages would know yours, it's orange." I told him, poking him in the cheek.

"Do you know my favorite thing to do?" I asked.

He lifted his hand to my cheek.

"That's easy. You love exploring." He said. "When we were younger, going on missions, you were always the one taking pictures and recording the land and places we went. I can tell you really like traveling."

_That's right, too._

"Yours used to be pulling pranks. But now it's different." I told him. "Now, I'd say your favorite thing to do is just hanging out with friends."

"Yup!"

"And my favorite food?" I asked.

He frowned slightly.

"That's a trick question. You have like _three_ favorite foods, fruit cups, syrup dipped dumplings and salt plums." He explained. "They're all desserts because you have a sweet tooth. I figured that out while we were tracking Sasuke down around the time we met Sai."

"...What else do you know about me?" I found myself asking.

He shrugged.

"I dunno... All sorts of stuff. Like... How you wash your hands twice before eating, because when you were little, you were afraid of germs. And that you used to be afraid of heights, so one day, Ino pushed you out of a tree to get rid of your fear and it only made you _more _afraid..."

I laughed, cutting him off.

_Ino's really something special..._

"And also... Stuff I shouldn't know..." His ears began to tint red. "Like that you used to talk to yourself in front of the mirror to get the courage to talk to real people. And that...you used to wish your parents didn't exist because you felt like everyone else had cooler parents than you."

"How do you know any of that?" I asked.

He smiled, leaning back into the sheets and putting his hands behind his head.

"I used to follow you around a lot when we were really little." He said. "The first time I met you was when I was four years old... But you probably don't remember."

"What happened?"

"Your Mom was taking you somewhere and you dropped some flowers on the way, I picked them up to hand them to you but... Everyone in the village hated me at the time, so your Mom pulled you away from me and everyone tried to scare me off."

_How horrible..._

"But I ended up seeing you again around a year later, getting picked on by some assholes because of your forehead." He looked at me fully. "That probably is a negative memory for you but for me... It showed me that there could be other people in the world that feel lonely like I did. I knew you'd understand me. Understand how it felt to be me. And so, it was then, as a little kid, that I vowed never to let you be lonely again."

_...Really?_

"So... What happened?"

He shrugged, looking toward the ice-blue waves that matched his eyes washing in closer.

"I...could never get up the courage to talk to you." He said. "I could never get the courage to talk to anyone, really... So... I followed you around. I saw all those things happen, like Ino pushing you and how you washed your hands and how you talked to yourself in the mirror."

_He really saw all that... All because he thought we were similar? _

"You know... One day, I did try to get the courage to talk to you." He revealed, turning his eyes back toward me. "It was right after we started at the academy, right before Sasuke's clan was annihilated, I think. And I was going to say hi to you and just ask if we could be friends but I overheard you telling Ino and some other kids that you had this crush on Sasuke."

He closed his eyes.

"It might sound stupid but I kind of gave up at the point. I knew I couldn't compete with him. But... That's kind of what made me start wanting to compete with him. Because I wanted to impress you."

It was mind-boggling to think that something like that, him believing that I would be his salvation but me being too preoccupied with Sasuke to notice, is what indirectly sparked their life-long rivalry.

_In a way that means... None of us would be who we are today or where we are today if Naruto hadn't cared for me._

"Too bad it never worked..." He muttered.

I leaned over him, willingly kissing him fully on the lips. He raised his eyebrows, seemingly shocked.

"It worked." I reassured him.

I lowered myself into his chest and he hugged me.

"...You probably hated me back then. Always putting you second best to Sasuke."

He shook his head.

"Not really." He replied. "If it wasn't for that, I never would've worked as hard as I did. Stuff like love is motivation. Keeps people going."

"Is that so?"

"Oh, totally! Take Obito for example. I mean, that Moons Eye Plan had to have some SERIOUS dedication."

I couldn't help the burst of laughter exploding from between my lips and he snorted, joining in, too.

_But this is it, isn't it? This is what I was looking for..._

Somewhere between the laughing and joking, he kissed me again and our next make-out session began to resemble the one from the night before.

Some kind of sign that I wasn't crazy. That love was something more.

"You're growing your hair out." Naruto mumbled, as he buried his face in it.

"You like it?"

He nodded.

"Yeah. I always liked your hair long, you know?"

"Okay... Then I'll keep it up."

Something that began with understanding, carried through with trust, and ended with mutual affection.

_I like you, Naruto. Not just because I trust you. Or just because we understand each other. But I actually like _you_. The person that you are._

And as I thought that, another memory occurred to me and I addressed him.

"Last night... While we were into it, you told me you loved me..." I said. "Did you...really mean that?"

He gave me a matter of factly look.

"Sakura, I've loved you since before I even knew what love was."

"But you said we were both a pair." I reminded him. "Because... We were both rejected by the person we loved the most."

Suddenly, he started laughing.

"You really don't get it?"

I blinked at him.

"I was talking about _you_." He confessed. "...For a smart girl, you're really-"

"Hey!" I interrupted. "Don't push it."

He held his hands up in surrender, but continued laughing.

"If you don't believe me, I'll say it again." He replied, then he bent down, looking me fully in the eyes. "I love you."

_Naruto... I'm touching you, feeling your pulse, feeling everything that a medical ninja like me has been trained to feel for years and you're definitely not lying. _

"Isn't this the part where you're supposed to say it back?"

_Yes..._

"I love you..._more_."

"No way." He chuckled.

I reached out, tenderly moving my fingers through his wispy yellow hair.

"You're saving me, Naruto..."

_Rejected... We both are... I mean, _were_... Rejected lovers. _

"Together, we don't have to be..." I trailed off.

_Rejected._

But he didn't need me to finish my sentence.

"I know." He said, hugging me to his chest with the calm breeze.

Up Next: Dive into the story of the OTHER reject who, unlike the rejected friend (Naruto) and the rejected lover (Sakura), may have a host of other rejects to call his own. Keep leaving me reviews about how you liked this part! I greatly appreciate it!


	3. Chapter 3

**Sasuke**

"I'm not doing this... I'm not staying here if you won't-" I wrote.

_No..._

I ripped the paper on my desk, tossing it in the trash can.

"Since when could you even give me an ultimatum anyway? I'm not your-" I scribbled out.

_No, that's even worse._

I leaned back in my chair and made the mistake of glancing out of the window. The entire village of Konoha had been celebrating all day, the pastry shop was giving out free desserts, the ninja tool shop was having a discount, and even Ichiraku Ramen was having a half-off special for anyone who ordered Naruto's favorite dish.

_This village is just..._

As I glanced out of the window, I could see the sparklers the children had been carrying around since the announcement that Naruto had been chosen as the successor, in an engrossed state, bursting over the tops of houses and making a collaboration of bright colors.

"If I stayed here... Where would I belong?" I etched into the paper.

My chunin vest was on the hook across my bedroom. I got up, grabbed it and proceeded toward the front door. The cheering was extremely loud through the streets as the official Inauguration Ceremony had just ended. Even though I didn't want to attend, I couldn't help the curiosity. So, while sitting atop my apartment complex, I watched him take up the cap and gown and make his speech.

"I swear on my life I won't EVER let you down. With me as Hokage, no one will ever feel lonely or misunderstood AGAIN."

And as if loneliness was something those brainless sheep considered on a daily basis, they all cheered, screaming his name, clapping, taking their headbands off in respect to Tsunade who gave her final farewell wave and backed off of the stage and fist pumping in the air as Sakura held Naruto's right hand and Shikamaru held Naruto's left.

"You know, me and Naruto go waaaay back." Said a voice. "I've known him since I was basically in diapers."

"You're exaggerating."

"No, really! He taught me everything I know. Watch this."

And I would've just kept on walking had I not been distracted by the pooling of chakra as the man created a swirling blue ball of wind in his palm.

"Wow! That's amazing, Konohamaru!"

He grinned, scratching the dark brown hair that, at some point, he'd let grow out until it spilled over his ears and reached his shoulders like Suigetsu's hair.

"And you could meet him anytime you want, you know... If you're around me when I go over there, that is." He said, grinning and grabbing her waist.

"Sure..."

I stepped into the alleyway, startling them and attracting their attention.

"Sasuke?" Konohamaru said, eyebrows popping up.

"Yo." I replied, easing by them.

"Wow! You know Sasuke Uchiha, too!? Are you guys' also best friends?"

From behind the excited girl's head, Konohamaru nodded hard, pressing his hands together like he was praying.

"Please, please, please..." He mouthed.

_I don't have time for this..._

"Yeah, whatever." I mumbled, turning back around.

"Wow, Kono! You're like a celebrity!"

"Yeah... I'm just so amazing, right?"

"Hey, Sasuke Uchiha!" The girl said, calling me.

I paused, turning slightly.

"What?"

"Just so you know, I wanted you to become Hokage."

"Congratulations." I said, beginning to walk again.

"It'd be like the return of your clan." She went on. "Ever since what happened to them, this village hasn't really felt whole... You know?"

I lifted my eyes to the blue-black sky, teeming with those explosive bright lights going off everywhere.

_Yeah... I know._

I continued walking again, just to have Konohamaru catch up to me the moment I left the alley.

"Hey, man... You okay?"

_What do you care anyway?_

"I'm fine." I replied.

"Well... Why don't you go find some chicks or something? I know at least ten that would love to have a chance to get to know you." He put a hand on my shoulder. "You look like you need to take a load off."

"I'm not interested." I said to him, shrugging out of his grip.

As I walked on, the excitement got more intense around me. People were more unsteady on their feet, bouncing and bumping into me, spilling drinks, whooping and hollering.

Just to get away from the crowd, I hopped atop one of the bars that was giving out all the free drinks, only to almost step directly on someone.

I looked down, almost looking surprised at the choice of destiny.

"Didn't plan on seeing you here tonight." He said.

His legs swung out over the edge of the building and he rolled the cup of sake around in his hand.

"Actually, I didn't plan on seeing you anywhere."

I stared at the man sitting in front of me, wearing the most casual clothes I'd ever seen him put on, a pair of black pants, some sandals, and a loose fitting white collared shirt with the three topmost buttons left open. His headband, which he'd stopped wearing over one of his eyes because of a lack of a need to, was tied around his neck instead in a formal fashion.

"Kakashi." I regarded him.

"Sasuke." He returned.

And then it was quiet. I sighed, getting down into a sitting position next to him.

"I know you're not sitting here looking for advice." He finally said.

"Hmph."

_And what if I am...?_

And as if reading my thoughts, he responded.

"But if you are, I'm afraid you're in this one on your own." He said, sipping from his glass again. "You're not a little kid anymore."

_A little kid..._

Back when Kakashi was to me what Iruka was to Naruto. An elder brother. A beacon of intellect, understanding, acknowledgement.

But once I discovered the truth about Itachi, he became the opposite. Like a poser, pretending to be my older brother, wearing that Sharingan just to trick me even further, disgrace me and my clan. Almost as much as Naruto, I hated him then. But with the ending of the war and the surfacing of all the issues we had and how well he helped out, somewhere along the line I changed my mind.

"Naruto has you and Shikamaru." I said, finally speaking up. "You guys who decided on Plan Kyuseishu... I'm not needed around here."

And oddly, Kakashi laughed.

"Sasuke... You really are something."

I frowned, not yet ready to look at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Naruto's probably extended a hand of cooperation to you. He wants to become Hokage _with_ you, I'm guessing."

"Guessing? Isn't it obvious?"

"Obvious that he'd say that but not so obvious that you'd take it in the way that you are." He said, drinking from his cup again. "It's like you still don't realize what kind of person Naruto is. And what you truly mean to him."

"I thought you said you wouldn't lecture me."

"I'm not."

"So get to the point."

My eyes went out over the curvature of the city. With the Hokage Manor in the distance bearing the most lights and action. Kakashi cocked his head back and finished his drink.

"Naruto doesn't want you to be Hokage with him just because you're smart and he needs a strategy. He wants you there with him because he loves you."

_...Loves me?_

"If you leave or disappear or isolate yourself forever, the damage won't be that he won't be able to come up with an operating foreign policy plan while he's in office. The damage will be that he'll be distracted, torn, depressed... Because he'll be constantly concerned with whether or not you're okay. And in that disarray, he'll grow tired and begin to make mistakes, those mistakes will grow in number and may one day result in the calamity that was the destruction of your clan."

"So you're telling me he'll be heart-broken?" I asked, finally looking at him.

Instead of seeing any trace of humor, he gazed at me with both of his steady black eyes.

"In every sense of the word."

"That's absolutely ridiculous." I replied.

"But isn't Naruto the epitome of ridiculousness." He countered.

And I couldn't really argue against him. Naruto _was_ the kind of person who would slack off and forget about his Hokage duties because he was obsessing over me. That was exactly what he did before when put his duties as a ninja second to chasing after me. Breaking all kinds of rules and walking over all kinds of set boundaries just to see me.

"What the hell is wrong with him?"

"It's not just him... It's you, too." Kakashi replied slowly. "Your bond is incredibly strong... It even...transgresses generations, I've heard. With both of you being reincarnations of souls that have warred for thousands of years."

_Reincarnations... Bonds... Uchiha, Senju... Brothers... _

_It's as if all these things are trying to make my own decision for me._

"Well... It's all up to you, anyway." Kakashi said, getting to his feet. "But somehow, I feel like deep inside, you already know the decision you're going to make."

He sighed.

"Anyway, I'm already late for a date with this woman." He smiled. "Heroes, huh? All I have to say is I trained you and Naruto and suddenly, everyone woman in every village wants to get to know me."

He tossed me his sake cup.

"Why don't you go get yourself a free refill? You look tense." He said, before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

I looked down at the cup, watching a pair of large dark eyes staring back at me. I dropped the cup, leaving it on the roof of the place and started for the place I realized I'd been heading toward all along.

It didn't take long until my feet dropped on the landing in front of Naruto's house. I pushed the door open, walking through his normally messy front hall. All of the lights were off except for one. I pushed it and the door swung open.

"Oi, Usuratonkachi." I called.

I froze. The door hit his end table, knocking into a vase of Sakura blossoms that tipped over...and shattered on his brown wooden floor.

The creaking bedsprings came to an abrupt halt. Naruto turned, bare back exposed as the sheets slid off of him and Sakura underneath him.

"O-Oh shit..." Naruto said, blinking rapidly and then looking down at Sakura. "Uh... I can explain! Uh... What happened was..."

But Naruto's words faded into the background of my brain as I stared at Sakura who pressed into him to hide her exposed chest, face quickly turning pink with embarrassment and I closed my eyes backing away.

"...Sorry for interrupting." I said, turning back around.

"Sasuke wait!" Naruto called. "Uh... Just wait out there. I'll be out in a sec."

I closed the door behind me, seriously considering just leaving but not being able to think of a good place I could go where he wouldn't just find me.

It didn't take long for the door to open and Naruto to walk out in a black t-shirt with the Uzumaki symbol in orange in the center and his classic Orange pants. And Sakura draped in Naruto's classic orange and black jacket, which he hadn't worn since the war, and red tights.

She paused near me, like she was considering saying something. I looked away from her, stripping her of the chance address me. After a few seconds of her awkwardly standing around me, Naruto beckoned her towards the door.

"You alright?" He asked her, putting his hands on her shoulders.

She nodded.

"I need to talk to Sasuke. Is it alright if you crash at Ino's house tonight?"

She nodded again, eyes flicking to mine momentarily.

Naruto grabbed her chin.

"Hey... I love you."

And then her eyes went back to him and stagnated, not needing anywhere else to look any longer. She leaned into him, kissing him and even though it was at a whisper, I knew she'd said...

"I love you, too."

He backed away, closing the door after him and then leaned against it as he turned to me. We both stared at each other silently. I crossed my arms, and leaned back against the coat closet he had next to his front door.

"Look, I know what you're thinking..." He said.

He sighed, sliding down to the floor in front of the door.

"It kind of just happened, you know?" He said, pushing his fingers through his hair. "But... I won't say I'm sorry."

He looked up at me, through the strands of his loose hair.

"You were really hurting Sakura."

I slid down onto the floor diagonal from him and bent my head back against the door.

"She was really lonely."

"Well, then it was perfect then, wasn't it?" I said. "You both were lonely. You both were obsessing over me. And now, you have something else to focus on."

"What are you talking about?" He asked me.

"Exactly what I said. Everything worked in everyone's favor, didn't it?"

"You sound like you wanted this to happen or something..." He muttered.

He looked up at me. I quickly averted my eyes.

"Wait... Wait... Really? You actually planned this? That's why you hit Sakura?!"

I frowned.

"I didn't hit Sakura on purpose." I replied, getting an uneasy feeling as the memory returned. "...It was instinctive."

"To slap someone for trying to kiss you?"

"I already told you I don't want to talk about this." I muttered.

"It's way too late for that."

I remained silent momentarily, gazing out of the window where a corral of children laughed, running past his apartment. Suddenly, Kabuto's words from the last time I'd seen him, over two years before, pressed against my memory. He was giving my eyes a regular inspection after he and Orochimaru had surgically altered my Rinnegan so that I could activate it and disengage it with ease, like my regular Sharingan.

"_Using medical ninjutsu, I'm able to see the mental grafts of your brain. You're pretty messed up."_

"_I didn't ask you how messed up I am." I replied, pulling my shirt back on. "I asked you to do this because I need to know if there are any setbacks to this new Rinnegan."_

"_There aren't." He replied. "Except... Something about the Sharingan."_

_He paused, tossing the scalpel in his fingers._

"_What?" I asked, hand already on the doorknob._

"_Your eye Kekkei Genkai. It has emotional withdrawals, doesn't it?"_

_I had paused at the time, considering his questions._

"_Says the 2__nd__ Hokage... Some legend about a curse." I turned around. "Why do you ask?"_

_He nudged his eye glasses._

"_The stronger your eyes get, the more mental synapses it shuts down." He replied. "In particular, they are the ones connecting to the part of your brain that controls deep emotion. At this point... You shouldn't even be able to experience true peace yourself. And yet you're advocating for it?"_

"_What's it to you?"_

"_I won't lie that initially I agreed to help you with all this because I still felt slightly indebted to Itachi." He confessed. "But... In Itachi's absence, I couldn't help but begin to see you as something like a younger brother. Someone I care for."_

"_I'm not a child."_

"_Just because someone cares for you, doesn't mean they're belittling you." He pointed out._

_Then he sighed, pacing the room steadily, in the kind of way only someone with bad news does. _

"_Your nerve endings... If they remain distant from each other any longer, you'll lose all ability to feel."_

_I stared down at my hand on the knob, my fingers hardening._

"_Feel what?"_

"_Anything." He said. "Peace, happiness... _Love_."_

"_I'll live." I muttered, pulling the door open. _

_Behind me, he leaned against the operating table, pulling his light gray hair back roughly._

"_Sasuke... What is life? What does it even mean to you?" He had asked me._

"Sasuke?" Naruto said, calling my attention back to the present.

I pulled a loose thread in my black pants, considering my next sentence.

"Before...you asked if I felt anything whenever Sakura got close to me." I finally spoke up. "The answer is...no."

I pulled harder on the thread, ripping it off.

"Everything is just... It's all..."

_So numb now._

"I knew that Sakura needed someone." I went on. "I knew that she decided a long time ago that person would be me. But... I wasn't going to work for her. And I knew that. So, I tried to stay away from her so I wouldn't hurt her anymore. And in the meantime, I was waiting around for you to wake up."

_It was like two birds with one stone. Finding someone that could stabilize Naruto, and finding someone that could love Sakura. All the while, getting the two most obsessive obstacles out of my path. Their union would mean salvation for all three of us._

"How the heck was I supposed to know that?"

"I thought it was obvious." I replied.

"You didn't even-"

"Anyway..." I muttered, interrupting him. "It doesn't even matter. In the end, staying away from her just hurt her more."

Naruto shook his head.

"She thinks it's her fault. That there's something wrong with her."

"It _is _her fault..." I told him.

His expression immediately slipped into disagreement but I continued speaking before he could voice it.

"...For wasting her life on someone who doesn't have a heart."

"Doesn't have a heart?" Naruto asked. "Isn't that a bit-"

"No." I answered. "It's not an overstatement."

We were silent for a while. And then the topic at hand came to the forefront of my mind. It seemed to come to Naruto's mind too, as he asked.

"Did you make a decision?"

"How can I? When it seems like everyone wants to make it for me."

"What are you talking about?"

"I can hear all the perspectives. I can see Madara leaving Hashirama and Konoha. And being a reason why I should stay. I can see Danzo living in the shadows, and being so jealous of Hiruzen he could plot the ruin of my clan. And that being a reason why I should leave." I looked at him. "I can see you... You being too trustworthy and naïve and allowing the world to fall into chaos without a good strategy. But... I can also see you being...just fine... Just fine without me."

I looked down.

"More than any of that, I can hear my brother... I can hear his final words. I can hear what he said."

"Which was?"

"That no matter what decision I made, he'd always love me."

"Really?" Naruto said, grinning. "Well, I could've told you that. I feel the same. Whatever you choose..."

"Even if I choose never to see your face again?"

I expected his smile to falter and him to consider that, the weight of it, but instead, he nodded.

"If I knew that was what you wanted... I'd only be upset if I felt like you were being forced to go. Or forced to isolate yourself. Or just pressured in general. But if that's what you truly want..." He smiled. "How could a true friend ever say no?"

_A true friend, huh?_

"I can see how it's hard for you, Sasuke... You feel obligated. So you don't want to run away like Madara. Because you feel like you should be the savior that Itachi could never be. You feel like you owe him something, his death, his cause, all of their deaths..." He shrugged then, grabbing at his shirt. "And I'm probably not innocent of that either... You probably feel like you're chained to me. Just to stop the Uchiha/Senju warring forever. It's almost like you're... You're..."

_Trapped._

"But... Sasuke..."

He slowly looked up at me.

"You can't live life based on other people. You have to think about what_ you_ want. And do just that. Or else... You're going to fade away. You're going to go numb. And then, maybe in five years, or one year or even tomorrow, you won't even know who you are anymore."

I stared at him as he ran his hand through his hair, jostling a blue necklace that I didn't recognize.

"I know I'm the last person you want telling you something like this. But... Tell me. What do you want? What do you really, really want out of life?"

_What do I want?_

Before, I thought I answered that question when I said to become Hokage. I needed to protect Itachi's will. I needed to preserve the strength that was Uchiha. Or at least that was what I explained to Kabuto when he asked me what life meant to me all those years back.

_But... That's not me. That was Itachi. That was _his_ mission. And even if he failed it, it doesn't mean it's mine now. My original mission... What was it?_

My fingers tapped anxiously against my legs.

_What do I truly want to do? If... I had to answer, I'd say..._

"Home."

An image of my elder brother and parents and everyone in the Uchiha clan flashed in front of my eyes.

"I've always just...wanted to go home." I repeated.

_Home... Where everything is back to normal._

Naruto looked down at the floor between his legs. Outside, the sparklers continued on. I had a strange urge to cry. But it didn't happen. Or more so, it couldn't.

"If you're talking about a place where people resemble you..." Naruto finally spoke up. "That home's gone, Sasuke. It's long gone."

_I know that._

"But...if you mean, somewhere where people resemble you on the inside. Then..."

_On the inside...? Inside I'm...broken, discarded, lost... Is there even a place where the people are anywhere similar to that?_

An image of Suigetsu, Jugo, Orochimaru and Karin flashed into my mind's eye.

_Rejected and forgotten._

"I think I know where that is for you." Naruto spoke up. "And if you trust them, then go."

I raised my head, looking him firmly in the eyes.

"Yeah, right... So _you_ can destroy the entire ninja world?" I asked him. "I still don't agree with your decisions. It's been two years now since you implemented the Five-Month Plan for the 'sick'."

I edged away from him.

"And like I assumed would happened, more people are cropping up, not less."

"But I listened to you, you know..."

I got to my feet, raising my eyebrows at him.

"We haven't put anyone into a permanent sleep yet." He sighed. "I knew, even if they were making that choice for themselves, it wasn't good so... I was kinda..."

He scratched his head.

"I was hoping you'd come up with something before the doses of 'Peace Pills' the medical ninja were giving maxed out."

"How long before that happens?"

"It basically already has." Naruto said, shaking his head. "We're going to have to make it a clean cut at this point."

"I said that in the first place." I muttered. "But now if you just abruptly cut them off it, there are going to be riots. And the other villages... They followed after you? With the Peace Pills?"

"They didn't really have another choice. They didn't want half of their villagers moving here because we were giving out free Infinite Tsukuyomi drugs!" Naruto reminded me.

I shook my head silently, thinking back to the last rocky three years of my life.

"There is another option." I told him.

"What?" He asked.

"I asked Kabuto and Orochimaru to brainstorm a certain antidote in their free time." I replied. "They came up with something eons ago but I never considered expanding it to the general public."

"Well, don't leave me in the dark! What is it?"

I recalled Orochimaru grinning as he walked toward me with the single pill.

"_Just one of these would be enough to completely erase the emotional damage in your brain. No major drawbacks." Orochimaru had said._

"_Except that you'll think you're a five year old." Kabuto had pointed out. "Erasing what the Rinnegan and your other eye jutsus have done isn't that easy... One pill will most likely obliterate the last fifteen years of your life from memory. I already told you. The only way you can fully recover is if you shut down the Rinnegan for good."_

"_Or implant Naruto's DNA into your brain." Orochimaru suggested. _

"_I'm not going down the same road as Madara." I explained. "And my eyes are my strength. I'm not stripping their power for something as trivial as this._

"_So what are you doing this for anyway?" Kabuto asked. "If not to connect to people..."_

_Sakura had flashed into my minds eye at that point. Her smile. Her laugh. The way everything she did and said just seemed like a big gray blur to me no matter how hard I tried to color it._

"_You're wasting my time with the negatives. What are the positives?" I wanted to know._

"_Well... The memory thing can be dealt with, if you're a patient five year old." Orochimaru sneered, but then he got slightly serious. "The truth of the matter is that if worst comes to worst, with specific phrasing we can 'plug-back' your stronger memories. Like your ambition to become Hokage and whatever else it is you're going on about these days..."_

_He cocked his head, giving me a grave look._

"_However... There's no guarantee phrasing can bring everything back. Your entire personality is on the line. Who you are. What you believe in. Your entire drive as a human being."_

_I reached for the pill, but something in my mind, maybe a part of me that actually for some strange reason liked who I was, hesitated and I jerked back._

"_Don't force this decision on yourself now." Kabuto had said. "I've come to realize that... Your memories, who you are, and what you have of your past... That can be your greatest salvation when you truly are lost."_

"Hey, Sasuke?" Naruto said, snapping his fingers. "Come on, stop zoning out."

"It's a Memory Dispelling Jutsu." I told him. "Depending on how many of the pills you take, it permanently destroys the memory you have of the past fifteen years. In the brain of, say, a twenty year old man who thinks he's thirty five, if he took one, it'd hopefully reset the entire mentality he had in the Infinite Tsukuyomi, thus, in his brain, it would be like the dream world never happened."

"Wow... You really came up with something that thorough?" He asked. "That's interesting. I mean... The way a Memory Dispelling Jutsu sounds... It's almost as if..."

He trailed off.

"It wasn't originally intended for the 'sick'." I replied. "They made it...for me."

I lowered my hand to him, helping him to his feet.

"What the hell for?!" He exclaimed.

I averted my eyes from him, running my hand through my hair.

"I don't want to talk about it."

"This again?!" Naruto exclaimed. "Come on! You were doing so well with the whole honesty thing."

"What's wrong with keeping some things to myself?" I retorted.

"Nothing except that you'd clearly feel better if you just got it off your chest."

I rolled my eyes.

"I got tired of it, alright?" I said. "I got tired of... Seeing her... Every day and being unable to..."

I scratched my hair.

"I didn't immediately just give up on her. I did want to be the one... So, I... I tried to..." I shook my head. "But... Something like that... It's just a shortcut. A coward's way of doing things. So at the last minute, I refused."

Naruto's expression went from curiosity to concern in seconds.

"That's..."

_Really pitiful, right? _

"Anyway... When I return to them, I'll oversee the experiments they're doing. If they've worked out fine, I'll send the first shipment of cures by bird."

Naruto nodded hard.

"And then, that'll be the end of this nightmare, right?"

"Yes."

My eyes slid toward his bedroom door where I could clearly see Sakura's red headband hanging on a hook.

_The end of _that_ nightmare... But perhaps, not my personal one._

"Naruto." I said, walking toward his front door.

He turned away from the window where he'd been gazing at the excited city and raised his eyebrows.

"Could you...tell Sakura that... That if things were different..." I grabbed his doorknob. "I would've loved her."

"Why don't you tell her yourself?"

"I wouldn't know how to say it. Besides... You're the charismatic one, aren't you?"

I turned and maybe it was something in my eyes but he nodded slowly.

"Okay. I will."

He reached out, showing me his fist.

"I'll always be here for you, Sasuke."

I looked at it, then reached out with my own fist.

"Yeah, I know." I said, bumping him.

"Sasuke's back!" I heard a feminine voice exclaim the moment I entered within a 100 foot radius of their home.

_So, that's Karin..._

The hawk I'd been riding swooped low, allowing me to lift off of it and spiral down, landing on my feet in a massive field of golden grass.

A puddle next to my feet surface, forming into a man.

"Long time no see, jerk-ass." He replied.

_And this is Suigetsu..._

After dropping me off, my hawk, and a dozen other small birds swooped low around a single person who walked steadily toward me and nibbled at him or, if small enough, rested in his hair and on his shoulders.

_And there's Jugo... So..._

"Where are Orochimaru and Kabuto?" I asked him.

Suigetsu turned, pointing toward a rather large log cabin that Karin was standing outside of.

"Well, Kabuto's inside there." He said. "And the Snake Lord comes and goes."

Then he turned back to me, giving me a wry smile.

"Kinda like you. So, what? You've finally figured out where the real party is at?"

I turned, walking toward the cabin. Halfway there, Jugo fell into step with us and asked me the same question.

"What brings you here this time, Sasuke?" He asked.

"That's exactly what I'm trying to figure out. But he's got that invisible tape on his mouth again."

"Shut up, Suigetsu." Karin said as we neared.

"You don't even know what I said!"

"I can tell it was stupid just because your mouth was moving."

"Bite me, Karin." He said. "Oh wait, you can't. You'd probably pass me a disease with all the teeth marks you've got on _your _skin."

"Oh, whatever! It's not like anyone would want your gross Shark Teeth anywhere near them any day! Go visit a Medical Ninja!"

"She barely even talks when you're not around." Suigetsu muttered to me. "She's just trying to show off right now."

"I can hear you, you asshole!"

"What's all this noise about?" A voice asked.

I turned to see Kabuto walking up with his arms full of brown store bags.

"I keep having to tell you guys to lower your voices while the kids are having nap and you just-"

He froze, glasses tilting on his nose as he saw it was me.

"...Sasuke? Wow... It's been... Almost two years now."

Jugo walked up to him and kindly grabbed the bags from his arms.

"What do I owe the pleasure?" He asked. "I thought for certain I'd be seeing the last of you when you denied the... Well, you know."

"Did you get my message? About the Memory Dispel Jutsu?"

He scratched his light gray hair, which he had grown to almost shoulder length, and nodded in the dark purple long sleeved shirt he wore.

"I got it." He replied. "I and a couple other medical ninjas that help me here have been trying to mass produce it in pill form."

He motioned back toward the cabin.

"And we've been distributing it to all the sick children here and observing their intake like you suggested we do." He explained to me.

I glanced over his shoulder at the brown house on the hill full of dark green grass.

_That house? That's where the experimenting is taking place?_

Jugo opened the door, taking the bags inside and Suigetsu played with a hose that Karin had begun to use to water the flowers, soaking her in water.

"I'll KILL you!" She screamed.

"So, you're housing the 'sick'?" I asked.

He nodded, smiling.

"Since a place like this was basically the sanctuary of my own childhood, I thought the best way to repent for my sins would be to create a safe house for the newer generation." He explained. "All kids. All orphans. ...Why don't you come see?"

He turned around, walking up the dirt path, and without much else to do, I followed after him, squinting my eyes against the gleaming sunlight. The cabin didn't look too big from the outside but inside it was spacious. Jugo placed the bags on a round table in what looked like the kitchen as Kabuto led me through an adjacent door.

"Here they are."

He pushed the door open, stepping aside to show me a room filled with royal blue cots covered in white blankets. Under the white blankets, were dozens of sleeping children.

"They're not all 'sick'. But they're all under the age of thirteen and have nowhere else to go. No one who cares..." He said, keeping his voice low. "At least, here, they know they're safe. And they're warm and well fed."

"How many?" I asked.

"We get more and more every few weeks. But the last head count I did was at thirty six." He answered. "My brothers from my childhood orphanage go out scouting and drop more off as often as they find them."

His expression suddenly turned agitated.

"Out of the thirty six of them here, twenty nine are 'sick'. Those kids... They've been getting abandoned by the big villages once they run out of Peace Pills or refuse to put them under."

My eyes layered over all of them, and I began to feel the one emotion that had never really left me. Helplessness.

_So... More rejects, then._

"How are the experiments going?" I asked.

"We'll find out for sure in a few days. But as of now, no one seems to be rejecting it completely." He said, crossing his arms. "Actually... They're beginning to act more like children. No one's complaining of having back pains or eye problems. Or other diseases that old people normally get. And a lot of them are starting to take interest in childish games."

"So then it's over." I said.

"Don't put your shuriken in a line." Kabuto warned, closing the door. "With medicine, it's never over until it's over."

"If the experiment succeeds, I'll need you to prepare more." I explained to him. "We'll start with Konoha and if that goes well, we'll need to expand to all five ninja nations as quickly as possible."

Kabuto nodded.

"I'd be happy to. This is all...a result of my errors anyway."

"Eh, don't beat yourself up about it." Karin said, coming inside carrying a basket of fruits. "No one's fucked up worst than Madara. His end was _bad_."

"Karma teaches the deaf." Jugo stated.

"Or the emotionless." Suigetsu said, giving me a knowing look.

Then he dropped into a chair next to the round table.

"So, anyway, what gives? You just came here to tell us rejects to get to work and now you're off again?"

They all stared at me, seemingly waiting for a pin to drop. I dropped my hands, pulling the over-the-shoulder messenger bag I had off and setting it on the table.

"Rejects?" I repeated. "What are you talking about?"

I sat down in the chair across from Suigetsu and leaned back.

"You guys... You're similar to me, aren't you? And I'm certainly not a reject. So neither are you."

The white lace curtains were rustled by a soft wind and like the drop of a beat, smiles coursed across everyone's face. It may have been the first time in recent memory that something I said created a room full of smiles instead of a room full of frowns.

_This... Might really be where I belong._

"On top of that, we're saving the ninja world from an epidemic, aren't we?" Karin asked, walking toward me to set the fruits down on the table. "Rejects can't be heroes."

"Yeah, they can! We're the Rejected Heroes." Suigetsu replied.

"Can you quit mocking me?!" Karin shouted back.

_Rejected Heroes... _

My eyes settled on an apple at the top of the brown basket and I grabbed it, turning it over in my fingers.

"Somehow... It fits." I said, before taking a bite.

Up Next: The final chapter of this little ending is next. You'll get to see what Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke's lives all end up like after a seven year time-skip. If you weren't disappointed with this awesome, Sasuke-centric segment, leave a review! I love to read them!


	4. Chapter 4

**Epilogue**

A couple of squirrels nibbled at each other playfully in a garden of Sakura blossoms and tomatoes only to be scared half to death by two pairs of small bare feet running past them.

"You're cheating, that's not how you play!" A little blue eyed kid declared.

"I changed the rules! Now, we have seven seconds to pick up the kunai before we have to throw it." Another kid with bright green eyes replied.

The first child frowned.

"I don't wanna play anymore, then."

"You're such a baby." The other one accused.

Both of the children stood in the garden wearing the in the exact same beige colored overalls that cut off above their ankles with matching long sleeved shirts underneath. They spoke in the same pitch, had the same mannerisms, and even had the same hair color. The single difference between them was eye color and the color of their long sleeved shirts, the blue eyed child wore a blue shirt, and the green eyed child wore a green one.

"I'm telling Mommy you called me a baby." The blue eyed one whined.

The squirrels, continually startled by the children, darted off, heading for the hole in the gate quarantining the garden on a high hill at the outskirts of the Village Hidden in the Leaves, and broke through, running downhill into the masses of trees beyond.

"Hey!" A stern voice called.

The children's heads popped up. Matching long, wavy red-orange colored hair cascaded down both of their backs and waved in the wind. And they both, in unison, hid a kunai knife behind their back as they stood.

"What did I tell you guys about playing with my ninja tools?"

The blue eyed kid frowned, bowing his head bashfully as the green eyed kid put her hands on her hips.

"I wasn't playing with anything." The green eyed girl lied.

"Then what's behind your back?"

Silence.

The yellow haired man walked up and, within the time span of a second, he stepped forward, grabbed the knives from both of them, and stood back in place. Neither of them even had time to blink. When it registered that the tools had been taken, they both pulled their hands from behind their backs and stared at their empty palms, not being able to stop the influx of giggles as they jumped about excitedly.

"You're so fast, Daddy!" The green eyed kid yelled.

"And you're a little liar!" He declared, grabbing the kids and tossing them up. "What'd I tell you about lying, huh, Tsunade? Huh? Huh?"

"And what did I tell you about rewarding the kids for doing something wrong, Naruto?"

Naruto turned around, grinning sheepishly as a woman with almost waist length pink hair and shimmering emerald eyes moved the swinging gate to the side and stepped into the garden.

"Look at them. They think it's playtime." She said, crossing her arms.

"Hey, I was a lot sterner than usual, Sakura." He protested.

"Which isn't saying much." She replied, poking him in the side with her little finger.

Tsunade grinned, brushing a few blow-away strands reddish-orange hair out of her eyes.

"I just want to be a great ninja like you and Daddy when I grow up!" She said. "What's wrong with that?"

"What's wrong with it is that you have your whole adulthood to practice being a ninja." Sakura pointed out. "And you're only five years old now as it is."

Tsunade looked up at her mother indignantly, and they both crossed their arms, matching green eyes glaring, seeing which one was going to give in first. It was clear, especially to Naruto who scratched the whiskers on his cheek awkwardly, that the woman and young girl were going to butt heads a lot as time passed. And not because they were complete opposites, but because they were exactly the same.

The blue eyed child walked up to his mother and pulled on the bright red kimono style dress she was wearing that mimicked the one she had worn when she was a Genin but with long sleeves, that stopped at her elbows, and an addition knot that hiked the dress up at her hips, giving it a slanted, lopsided style that ended appropriately above her knees.

"Mommy, Tsunade wasn't playing fair earlier." He tattled.

For a moment, both parents' eyes shifted to that boy, softening slightly, perhaps both of them being somewhat apologetic that Minato had been born so meek and introverted alongside his bossy and rambunctious sister. The ease with which he faded to the background around his sister made it laughable that he was the elder twin, having been born six minutes earlier than Tsunade.

Tsunade swiftly stuck her tongue out at him, making mocking faces behind their backs.

Not even having to see what she did to know that she was doing it, Naruto and Sakura's eyes turned to Tsunade again, in a 'you-know-better' manner that looked as if they'd done it a million times.

"Tsunade be nice to your brother. When you die, Minato's going to be the only one at your funeral, you know." Naruto said, walking off, long white Hokage robes flowing.

The boy's face drained of color.

"...Really?!" He exclaimed.

Sakura laughed, softly brushing her hand through the long, locks of wavy auburn hair running down Minato's back and to his waistline.

"Don't worry, if she's still mean to you even then. We'll come back from the grave and haunt her."

Tsunade grabbed her almost-identical twin brother's hand kindly for once and grabbed onto her father's trademark orange pants, which he'd never successfully gotten rid of, underneath the long white robes which bore the kanji characters for "Sixth Hokage".

"_You_ were probably a ninja when you were a little boy." She suddenly said.

Naruto's eyebrows rose. He slid his hands into his pockets.

"What makes you think that?"

"Minato read it. Didn't you?" She asked him.

He nodded.

"You didn't have to be thirteen to join the academy. A long time ago, you could even do it when you were five, like us."

Sakura and Naruto exchanged glances, most likely finding humor in the expression "a long time ago".

"I should be able to get special privilege for being the Hokage's daughter." Tsunade protested. "And get to join the academy now so that I'll be a ninja when I'm ten!"

"There's a reason the age was moved up, Tsunade." Naruto said.

Tsunade turned around, green eyes wide and attentive.

"Why?"

"Well, for the most part, ninja aren't needed as heavily anymore. There hasn't been a big dispute between any of the countries in a long time. And also, the last time there was a war, a lot of little kids like you-"

Sakura curtly nudged Naruto, stopping him from revealing to his children the truth about why Memory Pills had been distributed so widely before they were born.

"Uh..." Naruto said, glancing back and forth between his wife and daughter. "I'll just tell you that part when you're older."

Naruto and all the other Kages had come together after that epidemic was over and done with to discuss the protection of not only their peace, but the peace of the future. The conclusion that was decided on was setting a Ninja Academy Age, thirteen, and an Active Ninja Age, eighteen. That way, all ninja would have five years of academy training and could not participate in even Genin level missions until they were almost of drinking age.

Though this put most villagers and parents at ease, the young children of the newer generation felt somewhat cheated and could often be found petitioning the new laws, especially the Sixth Hokage's daughter.

Tsunade crossed her arms, huffing.

"_Everything's_ when we're older."

Minato shrugged.

"I'm glad." He said. "I also read that there used to be _wars_ a long time ago. And people even _died_. I definitely don't wanna be a ninja. Never ever."

"That's just 'cause you're a whiny baby, Minato." Tsunade accused.

"Am not!" He shouted.

The kids went on arguing as Naruto addressed Sakura.

"He should be here any minute now." He told her. "You want to head down toward the village gates?"

"...You go ahead." She suggested. "I gotta find the kids' shoes."

Naruto considered pointing out the fact that he was a million times faster than she was and could have them set and ready to go in five seconds flat but realized that she could've figured that out herself and hesitated.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah." She said, nodding along.

"Not feeling...awkward in any way?"

"What? No way! I mean, it's only my ex-boyfriend who the last time I saw, it was when he caught me lying in bed with my current husband." She said. "Nothing to be awkward about at all."

She finally turned to him, grinning. And he couldn't help but laugh.

"Not having second thoughts, are you?" Naruto asked.

Sakura walked toward him, softly grabbing his hand and gazing deeply into his large, sky blue eyes that matched the crystal blue gem piece that still hung on his chest, a silent reminder to her of the day she made her decision to stay with him. Because it was the day everything changed...for the better.

"Of course not." She told him.

"Good. 'Cause if you are, I get to keep the kids." He bargained, smirking at her.

Sakura grinned.

"Hey!" She shouted, slapping him playfully on the arm. "They're _twins_. That's a perfect excuse to do an even split."

Naruto shrugged exagerattedly.

"Okaayyyy... Then, Tsunade's yours!" He said, lifting his arms up as if to say 'No Take-Backs'.

"Mommy, Tsunade's picking on me again!" Minato whined.

"He's lying!" Tsunade immediately yelled.

Sakura rolled her eyes.

"See? That's exactly why I'd never leave you." She muttered to the tune of Naruto's laughter.

Then she turned to their children, raising her voice sternly.

"Tsunade, really? Do we have to go through this every day?" She said to her, then she turned to Naruto. "He's going to meet us in the grassy fields just past the West Entrance, right?"

"Right." Then he looked toward the entrance in the distant, yellow hair moving on his forehead in the breeze. "You know what? I'll just wait for you guys."

Sakura smirked at him.

"Check this out, the Hokage of the entire village of Konoha showing nervousness."

Naruto crossed his arms, turning away from her.

"Who would be nervous about that baka-suke, anyway?" He asked. "He'll be the same jerk he's always been..."

"Whatever you say, Hokage-sama."

He grinned at her, sliding his hands onto her waist.

"I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you." He said, smiling mischievously.

"I said... Whatever you say..._Hokage-sama_." She repeated, leaning into him and touching his cheek warmly.

"Yeah... That's right." He said, moving his face toward hers.

"Ew!" Tsunade and Minato exclaimed in unison, covering each other's eyes.

Naruto swiftly backed away from her, clearly amused by Sakura's slight frown and the pretend vomiting noises their children had become so adept at feigning.

"Hey, guys! Last one back to the house has to help Mom with the dishes!" Naruto told them, darting down the hill.

Sakura blinked, wide-eyed, never having seen her family run so fast in the entire seven years since she'd married Naruto.

Behind her, the gate to the garden blew in the wind, creaking on slightly rusty hinges. She grabbed it, gently pushing it closed. Inside the garden, a few petals of some of the growing Sakura blossoms dislodged and mixed within the air, slowly being carried over to a single tombstone in the graveyard that read in bold letters: "Senju Tsunade. A woman of great strength and courage. May She Rest In Peace."

Sakura smiled softly, somewhat glad that Naruto had planted a garden around the tombstone and allowed their children to play inside of it, even if it was just as an excuse for them to visit often. And left the garden with the same words she always did.

"Thank You."

"Hey, I think I see them! I think I see them!" A little boy shouted from atop a black haired man's shoulders.

"You shouldn't be able to see anything with _those_ eyes." The man replied.

The little boy adjusted the large, circular glasses on his nose and squinted.

"It's a yellow haired man and a pink haired lady. And two little kids that look the same."

"Amazing observation, four eyes." Said a guy with purplish white hair, poking the kid.

"My name's Nonō!" He shouted.

"I always said that was a dumb name." He said, turning to a pinkish-red haired woman. "Didn't I always say that Karin?"

"I don't keep a log and write down every word that comes out of your mouth, Suigetsu." She grumbled.

"If you did that, you'd be more irritable than you normally are." An bright orange haired man joked, as he walked on the opposite side of the man carrying the boy.

"Whatever, Jugo." Karin snarled.

"She's pregnant." Said a gray haired man who stood between the guy carrying the boy and Suigetsu. "Give her a pass card."

"See? Kabuto gets it!" Karin said, rubbing her round stomach tenderly above the long emerald maternal dress she wore. "I'm carrying a whole other human being."

"Don't flatter her." Said the guy carrying Nonō. "She's always been like that."

"And no parasitic brat inside of her is going to change that, eh, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked.

"Exactly." Sasuke replied, shifting Nonō on his shoulders.

"Oi! Sasuke!" Called a male voice in the distance.

Everyone squinted to see a man with orange pants and a black long sleeved shirt with bright Orange Uzumaki symbols on each shoulder waving them over joyfully.

"It's been seven whole years since you guys have seen each other and he's still the same guy." Kabuto said, smiling thoughtfully. "Can you believe that?"

"I can believe it." Suigetsu said, crossing his arms.

"Yeah..." Everyone else agreed in unison, even Nonō.

"He's not necessarily someone that does change." Sasuke said. "But that's a good thing, I suppose. Orochimaru was always going on about 'either you die the same or live long enough to watch yourself change'."

"He also said that if you completely discarded all of your ambitions, you'd one day commit suicide out of boredom." Jugo pointed out.

"I didn't say he was too bright." Sasuke muttered. "Besides... I didn't discard all of my ambitions. And that's we are where we are today."

"Wait... Where are we?" Nonō questioned.

"The village I lived in as a child." Sasuke told him. "Konoha."

"What? No way! You weren't born in the Orphanage just like me?" He asked, then he paused, pointing. "So, are your Mommy and Daddy in there?"

"No." Sasuke told the boy. "They died when I was only a couple years older than you are."

Everyone shifted awkwardly at the change in conversation, except Nonō who playfully covered Sasuke's eyes.

"I'm sorry." He said, but then he smiled. "But I'm also happy."

"Happy?" Sasuke asked, removing his hands.

"I thought that meant you were finally going to go home and I'd never see you again." He confessed.

Sasuke looked up at him, smirking.

"Hey... What do I always tell you?" He asked.

Nonō smiled.

"That family isn't about who you look like on the outside, it's about who you look like in here." He recited, pointing to his heart.

"And who do _I _resemble the most?"

Nonō giggled.

"The Rejected Heroes!" He declared.

Kabuto frowned, turning to Suigetsu.

"I thought I told you not to tell the kids about that stupid clown name." Kabuto complained.

"Relax Papa Bear." Suigetsu replied. "It's unity. And all the kids love it, especially Nonō, right, kid?"

Nonō grabbed his white headband, which had the kanji for 'hero' on it in red in the center, and nodded hard.

"Heroes!" He shouted.

Sasuke bounced him off of his shoulders and the boy spiraled toward the ground, only a second away from hitting his face in the grass when Sasuke caught him by the ankles.

"Heroes can fly. And I don't see you sprouting any wings." Sasuke told him.

"Ahhhhh!" he shouted as Sasuke swung him back and forth.

Across the grassy field, only a few meters away Sakura and Naruto watched. Tsunade bounced eagerly in her shoes, grinning at seeing a black haired man she didn't recognize toss a boy with short, messy dark gray hair while Minato hid behind Naruto's pant leg.

"Is that really...?" Sakura trailed off.

Nonō squealed in the distance as Sasuke flipped him up into the air, making him do a few backflips.

"Sasuke." Naruto said, slowly grinning. "He's...really changed, hasn't he?"

Then the groups met. Sasuke dropped Nonō letting him down into the grass and he immediately raised his head and adjusted his glasses, observing the girl with long, waist-length reddish-orange hair. Then, he cocked his head, looking at the blue eyed boy behind Naruto, peeking out timidly.

He walked around Tsunade, extending his hand to the boy.

"Hi!" He said, cheerfully. "I'm Nonō."

Tsunade put her hands on her hips and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey! I was standing right here."

"I saw you." He said, without even turning to look at her.

"Ohhhhh! That's embarrassing!" Suigetsu exclaimed.

"What's up with you picking one girl over the other, Nonō?" Kabuto asked him.

That was when the boy with the white headband on turned around. The ties of his headband draped down his back almost meeting his waistline as he slid his hands into the pockets of his white shorts beneath his vibrant red wide-collared dark red t-shirt.

"He's a boy!" Nonō declared, bright brown eyes shimmering in the sunlight.

And then, very uncharacteristically, Minato poked his head out from behind Naruto's leg curiously.

"Yeah... I-I am." He agreed, lifting his hand. "My name's...Minato."

They pounded fists, and like an instant friendship, both of them smiled. Slowly, Minato pointed, stretching out the light blue shirt that matched his eyes underneath his overalls.

"There's an apple tree over there. Wanna climb up it?"

Nonō grinned, almost bouncing with excitement of the proposition but he momentarily kept himself poised, and turned to Sasuke.

"Can I?" He asked.

Sasuke nodded, extending his hand as Nonō removed his glasses and handed them to him carefully before he bolted off with Minato.

Tsunade frowned, staring after them and then running along.

"Hey! Wait up!" She yelled.

Naruto grinned.

"Cute kid." He said to Sasuke.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows, almost as if he was surprised he was talking to him.

"Uh, no... That's..."

Kabuto raised his hand.

"Guilty." He told them. "Nonō's _my_ son... Though, it's easy to get that mixed up what with the way he acts towards Sasuke apart from me."

At that moment, Tsunade chucked an apple at the back of Nonō's head which caused a mini-wrestling match. Naruto opened his mouth but Sakura cut him off.

"Your turn." She told him. "I already dealt with her this morning."

Naruto sighed, walking a few paces away from them with Sasuke and the others following closely behind him to see if everything was still fine.

"Don't worry!" Nonō exclaimed. "I'll just heal myself with my Medical Ninjutsu."

"WHAT?!" Tsunade shouted. "You can do ninja stuff?!"

Sakura turned back to Kabuto who, next to her mentor Tsunade and herself, was the best Medical Ninjutsu specialist she knew, and smiled softly.

"I can see the resemblance." She told him. "But Sasuke seems more engaged with him than you do."

Kabuto shrugged.

"...I couldn't really help that." He responded. "His mother is also a scientist and together we worked on the first prototype of the Memory Pills that were distributed throughout the lands and ran the orphanage which has almost seventy children living there currently. ...There honestly wasn't even enough time to conceive him, let alone stay engaged with him afterwards."

He removed his own glasses, which matched Nonō's perfectly and scratched his hair, which was only about three shades lighter than his son's.

"It got to the point that he just blended in with the other kids to me... Like he was an orphan, too. And I'm sure he felt that." He motioned out to the boy excitedly telling everyone a story and shook his head. "The cheerful boy you see standing in front of you is a new occurrence. Back then, he was really... Quiet and distant. To the point that he wouldn't talk to the other kids or even make eye contact ..."

"So... How did Sasuke become so close to him?"

"Well, I guess while Nonō was wandering around feeling rejected, he might've run into someone else who resembled him perfectly."

"Sasuke was also feeling rejected?" Sakura questioned.

Kabuto nodded and both of their eyes drifted out toward Sasuke who was kicking his leg out over Nonō and Minato's heads, in a ducking game, seeing if they could avoid getting kicked each time. The boys laughed loudly, excited with the game and Naruto stood back slightly, seemingly not being able to wipe the expression of confusion off of his face as he observed Sasuke...who was actually smiling.

"Sasuke wasn't like that the entire time he was gone." Kabuto clarified. "It took a really long time for him to talk to anyone. It wasn't until Nonō had just turned two that... I guess they just connected. I'm not really sure what happened between them. But suddenly, Nonō wasn't even the same kid anymore. He talked all the time, laughed all the time, and played with everyone."

Then he paused, laughing somewhat mockingly at himself.

"Well... Except his Mother and I."

Sakura turned back toward him giving him a sympathetic look as they neared the rest of the adults.

"Are you feeling-"

"No." Kabuto said, shaking his head certainly. "I'm glad he's happy. More than anything, I'm just grateful that Sasuke saved him when he did."

By the time they reached the adults, Jugo had said something that made Sasuke turn to Naruto and question him.

"Speaking of the tested pills." Sasuke said. "I understand that they've finally been distributed to everyone that needed them."

Naruto smiled.

"All thanks to you guys." He said. "Actually... Because of that, I wanted to suggest something to you."

Everyone's eyebrows rose. The only sounds that could be heard were the children climbing the apple tree nearby.

Naruto looked around at everyone surrounding Sasuke awkwardly.

"Uh... We only really need one of you guys." He said. "Whichever one of you guys wants to speak for you all as a whole."

Karin took up the bait by groaning.

"Look, I hate political talk. Ask anyone. I'll be enjoying my day somewhere else..." She said, beginning a slow pregnant waddle towards the apple tree.

"I'll go make sure she doesn't trip and wheel barrel her fat ass down this hill..." Suigetsu muttered, going after her.

"These squirrels are telling me of a nice garden nearby... And I told the children back home that I'd collect souvenirs for them, so..." Jugo said, edging off.

Kabuto and Sasuke exchanged glances.

"I'll go make sure Nonō isn't-" Sasuke began to say.

"You are not leaving _me_ to do this." Kabuto said, turning in the direction of his son and the other kids. "You were the one communicating consistently with Naruto all this time, weren't you? You're basically our spokesperson already."

Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"Are you certain?"

Kabuto smiled at him, a smile that stretched beyond years, and put his hands on Sasuke's shoulders.

"Of course I am. I trust you completely." Then he motioned to the scattering group around them. "They do, too."

The old team 7 trio watched as Kabuto walked away, leaving them in privacy. And Sakura scratched her hair awkwardly.

"Before we get into the big stuff, I just gotta know something." She said quickly.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"What?"

Sakura blinked at him.

"Uh..." She pointed at Karin. "Is she...?"

Sasuke glanced at her and much to Naruto and Sakura's surprise, began to laugh.

"...That's not mine." He revealed.

Everyone's eyes turned to Karin just as she punched Suigetsu in the head and he burst into a cloud of mist that watered the giggling children.

"Oh wait... Suigetsu and... You gotta be-"

"I'm not. Suigetsu's the only one who has enough energy to entertain _that_." Sasuke told him.

And then both men continued laughing, voices carrying down the hill. Sakura stood off, watching them fondly, almost having an urge to rub her eyes and look again.

"Sasuke... You seem so... Happy." She thought aloud. "I never thought this would happen. All of us... Together like this again but I guess it's not completely the same. We're all so mature now."

"And your kids..." Sasuke went on. "Identical twins?"

"Almost." Naruto said. "Minato's going through this weird long-hair phase where if you even WHISPER something about a haircut, he'll cry himself to sleep."

"But if he cut it, they wouldn't look so much alike." He added.

"It's a mark of how weak your masculine genes are that your son can look like a girl so easily."

Naruto's expression turned to that of immediate irritation.

"Hey, at least I _have_ kids!"

"I'd rather not have kids than a pink haired son."

"His hair isn't even pink! It's... It's like an orange... reddish kind of... Whatever! Take that back, Sasuke!"

"Are you going to _make_ me, Usuratonkachi?"

"Never mind..." Sakura muttered. "I spoke too soon."

But unlike their childish days, she didn't need to break up their quarrels because, they were less like true arguments and more like the natural flow of their conversation. Very abruptly, they turned to serious matters.

"Anyway, I can sense your difference." Naruto suddenly said.

Sakura raised her eyebrows, about to protest that with the way they were just talking, Sasuke obviously wasn't too different at all when Naruto continued.

"Your Rinnegan. It's gone."

Sasuke nodded, not even surprised that Naruto had sensed it so quickly.

"...One of the last things I had Orochimaru do before he passed was reverse it." He explained.

Sakura's eyes widened.

"You can't be serious." She said.

Sasuke shrugged. The white collared shirt he had on rustled in a blowing wind and he moved his hand along the form-fitting dark-gray t-shirt inside of it.

"I decided I didn't need it." He replied.

"You're definitely bullshitting me." Naruto joked.

Sasuke shook his head, lifting his eyes to the clear blue sky, which was littered with large, cotton white clouds.

"What is life anyway...?" He said. "Before, I thought it was a struggle for power. A way to get it. A way to keep it. But..."

He turned toward them, dark eyes locking on their light ones.

"When Kabuto's wife had Nonō..." He paused, glancing at the playful boy. "It...made me want to feel again."

Nonō's shrill laughter rang out across the plains as his stubby six year old fingers stretched out, gripping Minato around the waist and wrestling him to the ground. Then, he lifted his head, full of that wavy gray hair bouncing up softly, and his chocolate brown eyes rose to Sasuke and shimmered in the sunlight, searching him for approval of his roughhousing to which Sasuke nodded at him, giving the okay to continue playing.

"He... was just like me. Just like I was when I left Konoha. Just...a ticking-time bomb. Silently making a death list for all the people that ever made him feel pain."

Naruto watched him intently, a small smile tugging at his lips from the reminder of how he used to be when everyone in Konoha hated him.

"I think he realized that I was similar to him... So he started following me around. Everywhere I went, he was there too. And even though initially, I wanted to kill him for it, after a while it was...normal. We barely left each others sides." He scratched his hair. "But... I knew that following me around was only going to make him feel even more pain and rejection at the end of it all."

He made eye contact with Sakura, who gazed at him steadily, pain with all those years back replaced by understanding.

"So, I decided to save him from it. Save him from what I had to endure. But I couldn't do that unless I could feel again. So... I sacrificed my eyes." He played with the boy's glasses which he still held. "Ever since I made that decision, it's been like...we have this connection. Whenever he smiles, I smile. Whenever he laughs, I laugh... I think he knows I'd do anything for him."

Naruto and Sakura played with each other's hands, an interesting marital tic they'd picked up, and listened to his story, both of them smiling at the same time as he explained his life change.

"I mean, I thought I was doing that, basically throwing my entire power source away, to make_ his_ life better, but somehow it ended up making _my _life better..."

And then, slowly, a smile pushed onto his lips.

"And...I feel closer to Itachi than I ever did. Because... Right now. I finally understand how _he_ felt, watching me as a kid." He told them. "There's more to it than that. It's more complex... And I haven't necessarily decided fully on what it is. But power isn't the answer."

Slowly, Naruto's lips also stretched into a smile and it was obvious what he was thinking... That the Sasuke from before would never have said something even remotely close to that.

"It never is." Naruto agreed.

And then sensing a weight even she shouldn't be present for, Sakura gave some excuse about having to check on Minato, who was crying for some reason, and walked off.

"Sasuke." Naruto said, getting to a sitting position in the grass. "You got my message about how the other countries want to come together now right?"

"I saw it." He got down into the grass next to him. "All those years before, I drafted a plan of action that we could take if all countries wanted to come together... But..."

"I saw it." Naruto interrupted.

Sasuke raised his eyebrows.

"Basically, every country keeps their Kage but one overseer Kage has final rule over international affairs. All villagers of each country will vote on that international leader and the leader can be fired by unanimous vote of all Kage's at any time." Naruto told him. "Right?"

"How did you-"

"Sakura and I took the liberty of cleaning out your apartment when you left." He said, grinning sheepishly. "I liked the idea so I pinned for it. All the other countries like it, too. Honestly... Everyone was worried about a long-term plan for peace that we could operate under. Already petty crimes between villagers and countries were ensuing and the feudal lords were getting restless. But now... Everyone has something to hope for."

"Hope, huh?" Sasuke asked, tossing the glasses from one had to the other. "Well... It sounds to me like you have all this planned out. You even have a nominee for that Overseer Kage, don't you?"

"Well, I actually coined the name of the position. I've decided to call it 'World Sage'."

"World Sage?" Sasuke repeated, then he rolled his eyes. "Could you get any more obvious?"

Naruto grinned, running his hand through his hair.

"You know it sounds badass."

Sasuke looked down, balancing his arm on his knee and then nodded.

"Well, congratulations."

"Huh?"

"On becoming the World Sage." Sasuke told him. "As long as you keep sending me the drafts for your policies, you'll do alright."

Naruto smiled softly.

"Sasuke... You know..." He began. "Every time I make a speech, I tell the villagers about who's been testing the treatments they're getting, where they're coming from, who basically came up with the idea for it. And not just the Memory Pills, which saved the world, but also every single policy I've signed off on since then."

He raised his eyes to Sasuke.

"They know it's you." He told him. "Everyone does."

Sasuke nodded.

"Well, that's good. We can stop sending the orphans to the nearby villages to collect groceries now."

"You really don't get it?"

"Get what?" Sasuke asked, finally looking at him.

"It's..._you_."

Sasuke stared at him, looking completely oblivious.

"The World Sage... Everyone's voted for you." Naruto told him. "And you call _me_ stupid?!"

"They did..._what_?" Sasuke asked slowly. "But...how..."

"I told you once before. People might be mean but...if you show them who you are, who you _really_ are, they'll have no choice but to love you." He smiled. "If you came back to Konoha today, you'd go crazy... Everyone wants to see you again. Everyone's constantly asking where we're hiding you. ...And not just in Konoha. Everywhere."

Sasuke shook his head.

"Your humor really hasn't changed."

Naruto quickly grew serious.

"Look at Sakura."

"Why should I-"

"Just look."

He turned, looking toward Sakura who had kept her eye on them from a distance. As he turned, gazing at her, she raised her hand, showing him a thumbs up.

"Congratulations!" She shouted. "It's time for YOUR Road Trip now!"

And then... Like an army of shuriken, it hit him. Slowly, his eyes turned to Naruto as he clapped his hand on his shoulder.

"I'm guessing you need some time for this to sink in." He said, getting to his feet.

He slid his hands into his pocket, beginning to walk toward everyone else but then stopped abruptly.

"Oh! I almost forgot. Here..."

He reached deep into his pocket, pulling something out.

"I found this a really long time ago..." He said to him, then he winked. "...Full circle?"

Sasuke watched as Naruto walked away taking time to unfold the sheet of notebook paper he'd given him. And on the note was his own handwriting from seven years before...

"_If I stayed here... Where would I belong?"_

In separate handwriting, scrawled underneath it was dozens of different handwritings, different colors, some misspelled, some big, some small, all saying the same thing...

"_With us."_

As Naruto met Sakura underneath the apple tree and slid his hands onto her waist, pulling her into his chest and kissing her softly to the chorus of grossed out children and adults alike, Sasuke gripped the paper in his hand, bowing his head and balling his fists as he became overwhelmed by an emotion that was incredibly new to him but not any less fierce.

"They...really want..." He whispered. "..._Me_?"

And one...two...three tear drops hit the page, running in the ink words and dripping off, making black splotches in the grass.

And then, like the truest emotional connection two people can ever have, a hand was soon on Sasuke's shoulder, and the sun radiated off of the dark gray locks of hair that swam into his line of sight. He didn't need to look up to know that Nonō was called to attention by the hunch of his shoulders or the shimmering tear drops on the grass.

"Nii-san?" He asked, wrapping his arms around his neck in a close hug. "Are you okay?"

And the paper in Sasuke's hand crunched slightly, as he balled his hand in certainty and also determination. He lifted his eyes, which were by then dry, and gazed out above Nonō's arms, toward Naruto who met his gaze steadily as if asking "So, will you accept?"

"...Yes." He answered.

**The End**

Author's Note: Thanks so much for reading! While you wait for my next few fics, go ahead and check out some of my others! I'd greatly appreciate it! And don't be shy, go ahead and drop a review below about how you liked (or disliked) this NaruSaku Naruto Ending!


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